I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to Thea Gavin's 300 level writing class last night at Concordia University. We mostly discussed revising, which I feel is one of the most important parts of the writing process. I brought along the original manuscript of
The Year the Swallows Came Early, and showed them, via PowerPoint, how it went from a first draft to a seventh draft, with multiple rewrites stemming from suggestions from my agent, Jen Rofe (a five page single spaced email), my critique group, and my then editor, Brenda Bowen (a three page single spaced letter). And of course, there were those copy editor suggestions, which I was most thankful for.
I showed them how, on one page alone, there could 6-10 sticky notes from the copy editor, and then another 3-4 from the editor. But that the goal of each suggestion, and then each revision was to make the story the best it could possibly be. And to keep working until your work is what you never would have imagined when you started out.
As a past teacher, I enjoy meeting with students, especially writing students. I looked out at all of them at the end of the talk, feeling excited and hopeful for what they would write someday, for the stories that only they could tell.
I was once one of them. I think most writers know they're writers from very early on, and if they work hard, anything is possible.
