"Room Service" : Behind the Scenes
“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.”
Hello friends,
Welcome to the cutting room floor!
I’m pulling back the curtain on my recent Coffee + Crumbs essay, Room Service. This essay came to me somewhat fully formed one night last November, while I was working on my manuscript. Sometimes I have to wrestle my thoughts on paper for months before I can even begin to shape them into something worthwhile. Other times, an idea flies into my head and won’t quit buzzing, at which point I usually stop what I’m doing to write it down before it disappears. “Room Service” is an example of the latter.
On November 2nd, I transcribed everything swirling in my brain as quickly and furiously as possible, which you can read here, in the initial Brain Dump.
I did not touch this document again until January 11th, which you can read here, in Version Two.
Here’s Version Three.
And Version Four.
And Version Five (including notes from my mastermind group).
And the Final Version.
I’ve made notes at the top of each of these documents, and left comments throughout attempting to explain some of my thought process re: choices being made. I hope this behind-the-scenes look is helpful to you as you make your own choices and shape your own work this week!
“I like to replace a humdrum word with one that has more precision or color. I like to strengthen the transition between one sentence and another. I like to rephrase a drab sentence to give it a more pleasing rhythm or a more graceful musical line. With every small refinement I feel that I’m coming nearer to where I would like to arrive, and when I finally get there I know it was the rewriting, not the writing, that won the game.”
