Vision and Revision
Seeing your work clearly when everything looks blurry
After numerous visits to my optometrist to address ongoing vision issues, I’m struck afresh by the repetitive nature of a standard eye exam. These exams are conducted by highly trained professionals, of course, and there are nuances involved I’m not privy to. Still, there’s a rhythmic, performative quality to Which lens is better? This…or this? How about now?
How does one keep from getting bored, doing this work over and over, day after day? (I realize that eye exams are not all that optometrists do—but they do a lot of them.)
If I were in this line of work, which is both repetitive at times and also carries high stakes, I would continually remind myself of the person on the receiving end: The outcomes for this person matter a great deal.
Therefore, the repetition is always a means to a powerful end; in the case of vision health, it’s about improving or even preserving someone’s eyesight.
I see (!) parallels here to the writing process. In particular, the revision process. As we’re revising or polishing a batch of text, we read the same passages and scenes over and over until we lose sight of the rhythm, the meaning, whether it’s even any good. Familiarity does indeed breed contempt, in the sense that the more we go over the same material, the less we’re able to judge its merit and impact. This is of course the opposite of what the revision process is for: We should be honing the work so that it is irrefutably meaningful and impactful. Revision is the act of improvement.
My solution to rising out of the fog of the repetitious and familiar is to remember who really matters here—and it’s your reader.
You may reach a point where you’re sick of your book, can’t stand to read page 1 ever again (EVER!). Your optometrist doesn’t have that luxury—of skipping over the eye chart or the lens check. And neither do you, in your own sphere.
For we’re writing not only to please ourselves but to make a case for a reader: these hundreds or thousands of words are worth their time and attention.
The stakes here are high—not life and death (or a cure for blurry vision), but high in that we’re writing to communicate with strangers and we need to take that responsibility seriously if we’re to achieve our goal.
So when you find yourself numbed out by close revisions, to the point where your words seem almost meaningless, shake your head and blink hard. Lift your eyes from the page and refocus on something in the distance.
Switch from near-sighted to far-sighted…
And then you’ll see them…
Your readers are out there, waiting patiently for your expertise to show up. And they don’t care how many times a day, a week, a month you rewrite something, as long as you give them your undivided attention in the end.
If you haven’t read WRANGLING THE DOUBT MONSTER: FIGHTING FEARS, FINDING INSPIRATION, you’re missing out on a book that writers tell me they keep on their bedside table! For real! If you are boycotting Amazon, then order from your local bookstore.
And coming your way: My new novel TENT CITY, which is getting some amazing early reviews!
Bernstein’s thrillingly perceptive story asks “Where does individual and collective responsibility start and end?” and imagines for us what happens when we don’t have answers. Captivating and horrifying, TENT CITY is everything a novel should be.
–Amy Goldmacher, Terms & Conditions
Yes, Amy, this is exactly how I’m feeling. On my 3rd pass (or is it the 4th?). Yes I’m making progress, but am I losing my mind or maybe it’s just the thread I’m losing? And when I look up to see my readers it’s the dust pile behind my computer that catches my eye!
It was so great meeting you at AWP at the Flash the Court reading! Funny that I was already a subscriber, like the universe repeatedly putting your words in my path!