Revising Our Stories—or How to Knit a Sweater

Hi, Monkeys—Marilyn here. A while ago I saw the most gorgeous teal-colored mohair yarn and decided to knit a sweater with it. Until then I’d only knitted scarves and potholders, I’d never worked from a pattern, and I didn’t have the patience to make a practice piece to test the gauge. You can imagine the result; it was teal mohair and it looked something like a sweater—from very far away and in the dark—but it wasn’t a usable, wearable sweater. The only way to make that sort-of sweater into the beautiful creation I’d envisioned, I had to rip out most of the knitting and do it again—this time, the right way.

I’m now in the middle of revising a novel after having received my editor’s feedback. Although the draft I submitted to her wasn’t nearly as bad as that sweater, it has required some major rethinking, reorganizing, and rewriting. Thankfully, I learned about redo's from the sweater experience and made a solid plan for this revision draft. Here’s what I’ve done: