Summary

I read “Strong Writing and Writers Don’t Need Revision” an essay written by Laura
Giovanelli, professor of writing at Wake Forest University with a MFA from NC State
University. The essay is kept in a collection of similar essays promptly titled “Bad Ideas About
Writing” the essays are directed toward students and inexperienced writers as it aims to give
them a different outlook on the subjects written.
Giovanelli writes this essay with the sole purpose of calling revision into attention, that
being that all writers even the greats must thoroughly revise their work, not just skim for
grammatical mistakes or misspellings but to rewrite and reword their work. Authors go through
plenty of rough drafts before they even consider publishing their work but, that’s not to be
mistaken as saying there’s a specific number of drafts one must reach before they are happy with
their writing. Giovanelli writes to her audience that it’s not the number of drafts that makes a
piece of writing good or is it the size of the change being made. It is exemplified that writing for
revision or reviewing one’s own work is not a sign of weakness but a sign of growth and
prosperity, to be able to change and correct ones writing takes effort and skill that famed writers
still struggle with to this day. The revising process is not one that only takes place in front of a
computer or piece of paper, revision is done all throughout our day, from thinking about writing
while we drive to work to thinking about the piece we are working on while eating or talking
with friends about the subject. Giovanelli then looks at how some writers may hide from revision
by claiming that a piece is a work in progress, she is a strong believer that all writing is social
writing and should be seen and responded too in critical and non-critical ways. She then
described how most of us are writers just based off what we post on social media and the
presence of revision in the social media scene of writing.
Reaction
I chose to read this essay by author Laura Giovanelli because it pertained to me in the
sense that before coming to college, I never truly revised my work carefully, I would look for
spelling or grammatical mistakes and call it a day because I deemed it not worth my time. I agree
with Giovanelli, revision complete changes writing, I have been able to realize that thanks to the
peer reviews we have done in class. Each peer review gave me actual substance and ways to
think about my writing, seeing the comments and understanding the differing perspectives others
had when reading my work gave me inspiration to change it and polish it so that I could feel
proud about my writing. The author’s point was very interesting because as mentioned before I
related to it much more than I thought I would, it almost felt like she was calling me out on my
previous thoughts about revision. Due to this essay, I will know focus more on the process of
revision as an active time in which I review and revise all of my writing whether I’m sitting at
my desk typing or riding the bus thinking about what I will write next.
Here you analyze the reading/video by reacting to the main points. (It's fine to use first-
person "I.")

• Begin with what stuck out to you from the assignment and why?
• Was the author's/speaker's main point interesting (or not) and did you enjoy
reading/video the communication? (Be honest.) Did the author/speaker
engage his/her/their audience? How?
• Did the author/speaker support their main points with strong examples and
evidence? Give an example.
• Do you agree or disagree with some or all of the main points. Always say
"why" by providing reasons for any opinions you state.
• Did the reading/video change your thoughts in some way? How?
• Did you find the reading/video helpful? How?
• Do you have any personal experience that ties into the subject or did it make
you think of something else you already know? If so, mention what it is.