Revision

This past Saturday, I went to my local SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference with the YA Muses and spoke about revision.  As I spoke, and as I listened to amazing authors Donna Cooner, Talia Vance and Veronica Rossi speak, I learned some things.

1.  Revision is not a formula.  It is different for every writer, for every book, even for every revision.

2. Revision is not easy or fast.  We were asked how long it took to write our books, and our answers almost invariably indicated that revision takes longer.  Revision is where the real work goes in.  Fortunately, it is also where much of the fun and beauty happens.

3.  There is always something to be learned.  I took notes.  We've all discussed our revision techniques before.  We've shared our tools and our methods.  But I learned something new.  Or relearned something that I'd love to apply.  There's always something to make your book better.  And that's why I love revision.

If you want to know more about revision, check out the YA Muses blog posts this week.  We'll be recapping the revision tools we discussed, and hopefully getting tips and feedback from other writers, too.  Because there's always something to be learned!