Here's a piece of advice from Samuél L. Barrantes in his article, 7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Samuél L. Barrantes, for Chuck Sambuchino's website: Guide to Literary Agents. It came at exactly the right time. I am in the very nitty-gritty editing and rewriting phase of my revision process. Barrantes says:  Writing = Re-Writing. I used to have a romantic notion of writing as a frenzy of creativity, where the words poured out of me, the Muses singing by my side. But the truth is writing is as much about editing and re-writing as it is about creation. You really have to love what you're working on to stick with it. I think of the first draft as the sculptor's block of cold stone there is something there, buried within, but the sculptor spends years chiseling away.  For example, I cut approximately 35,000 words between the first and final drafts of Slim and The Beast, with countless rewording and revising throughout. My goal is to cut 9,000 words from my manuscript … [Read more...]