Making Revisions

As a student and as a writing tutor, I've learned that one of the most important steps in the writing process is Revision: taking what you've written so far and changing it to make it better. The changes can be major or minor. They can adjust the superficial elements, like the tone and wording, or the deeper elements, like the content and structure. Revision means taking something that's already complete and changing it to make it better.

Each of us could use some revision. We are each complete people, but we could all stand to make some improvements. Some of those changes are major, and some of them are minor, but all of them are useful improvements. But it's important to note that revising something doesn't mean throwing the whole thing away and rewriting it from scratch. It means starting where you are and making tweaks. It means adjusting something that already exists. We don't need total do-overs. No matter what we've done or become, we can start where we are and make improvements from there. We don't need a complete overhaul, just some revisions.

I'm grateful to know that we can change and improve in bits and pieces, just like revising a paper. It's comforting to know that we could all use improvements. And it's reassuring that, no matter what our situation is now, it's not beyond saving. We can improve it. We can review our current draft, identify changes that could be made, and make revisions.