WRITINGS

1/10 Some notes on revising, especially for academics who write.

Revising is figuring out what you really think, or getting as close as you can. You may do
it once or a dozen times. But you do it for the reader. Always for the reader.

2/10 Knowing that you need to revise is never a sign of failure. It’s what every writer
does and knows. Good stuff gets cut b/c it’s not doing the work you want it to.

3/10 So you need to know what work you want the writing to do, and what you hope
your reader will do with it in turn. That’s point and consequence.

4/10 Good revision is sometimes self-centered (“So what do I think?”), but always
generous (“Hey reader, I made this for you”).

5/10 You won’t get lost in the revising weeds if you can concentrate on three axes:
Argument, Architecture, and Audience. (Don’t have an axe to grind when you’re
revising. Have three.)

6/10 What’s an argument? Sometimes it’s really more of a compelling question about
something that bothers you. That can be plenty. Don’t be fixated on solving for x. Your
contribution may be the discovery of x and the gift of ways to think about x.

7/10 Architecture isn’t just making shapely chapters. It’s using language to build a
habitable space for your ideas and your reader. So a book is more like a workshop than
a museum. Appealing units, good directional signals, openings and closings.

8/10 True fact: no reader, no book. So as you revise, pay special attention to what your
reader will hear. You wrote it, but the reader makes the writing happen, or at least turns
the ignition key. You want there to be a hum.

9/10 A hum and a narrative. Writers are storytellers. Even scholarly writers are
storytellers. Link the pieces. Keep the lights on in your writing.

10/10 Leave out what you don’t need, which means most of your homework. Revise for
better, not for perfect. Better is often shorter, simpler, but also clearer and riskier. You
can do this.