Revision and Starting Over

Posted in Books, Homeschool students, how to be more creative

We’re taught that revision is essential but shouldn’t like it. It means that we should have done it better the first time.

What if you looked at revision as a sign of learning, a way to demonstrate that you know more now than you did yesterday? An indicator of a desire and willingness to grow.

Real learning comes from applying information or skills, gaining feedback, making adjustments, and trying again.

Absolute failure is when you’re unwilling to start over or revise because it seems too hard.

It’s easier to revise if you’re working from a rough draft. Know that you’re first, second, and third will be a rough draft; how many rough drafts are you willing to do?

What is your version of a rough draft?

Writers may start by jotting notes on a note card, then move to a notebook, progressing to typing words on a page that will then go through several rounds of edits.

Artists may create thumbnail sketches, models, prototypes, or dummy books, gaining feedback and making adjustments.

Let’s look at an example from the book, High in the Tree and Low in the Soil

Image 1: Illustrator, Amber Kane decided that she loved the cone, but didn’t like that it was on a tree that doesn’t have cones. She also liked the idea of using envelopes to cut out the leaves for the tree but didn’t love the overall shape.

Image 2: Since she liked the trunk of the tree, she kept that part, and decided to switch to making Ginko leaves, because those are her favorite. She liked the tree but thought that it would be hard for kids to identify the seed.

Image 3: And finally, she created the tree that you see in the third image. You’ll see that once again she kept the trunk, as she still liked that part, but created a tree that made sense to have pine cones hanging from it’s branches. Observe that she continued to play with the idea of movement through overlapping and transparency that she started to explore in image 1 and 2, but pushed even further in image 3.

All of the trees were good, and each one helped her to learn and resolve a few issues to get to the final design.

Get started:

Take 15 minutes today and make progress towards a goal.

  • Write for 15 mins.
  • Exercise for 15 mins
  • Create art for 15 mins

You can’t revise if you never start.

Reflect:

  • Take 5 minutes and reflect on your work.
  • What do you like about your work?
  • What do you want to do differently?
  • What do you need to learn to improve upon your work?