Remember, it is no sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in need of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and among the best writers.
Interpretation
Revising your work is a normal part of writing and not a reflection of failure.
This quote emphasizes that needing to make significant changes to a manuscript is a common experience for writers, even the most successful ones. It serves to remind writers that editing is an essential part of the creative process and should not be seen as a failure or weakness, but rather as a step toward improvement and refinement of their work.
In practice
During a writing workshop, to encourage participants to embrace editing.
The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definitive, and concrete. The greatest writers - Homer, Dante, Shakespeare - are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.
Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.
The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
Avoid fancy words....If you admire fancy words, if every sky is beauteous, every blonde curvaceous, every intelligent child prodigious, if you are tickled by discombobulate, you will have bad time Reminder 14.
Rather, very, little, pretty - these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.
Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e., do not cave in to endless requests to have "essential" and "long overdue" meetings on those days.
Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.
I think education is power. I think that being able to communicate with people is power. One of my main goals on the planet is to encourage people to empower themselves." Another "I was raised to believe that excellence is the deterrent to racism and sexism. And that's how I operate my life." And another "It does not matter who you are or where you came from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.
When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
I started studying in '85 and got knowledge of self and started spitting. What was going on was taking the understanding of what I was reading and applying it with my life and applying it with my rhymes.
The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one generation to the next. This applies today in an even higher degree than in former times, for through modern development of economic life, the family
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