Pluck, Shape, and Polish: The Joys of Revision

​As some of you know, I’m writing a memoir in micro and flash stories—revising a manuscript I drafted over thirty years ago. This month, I’m sharing my process. Perhaps, like me, you’ve got old writing you’d like to revisit? Or maybe you’re revising a recent draft? As Hemingway once said, “the only way to write is to rewrite.” When we approach revision as a generative practice that invites discoveries and deepens meaning, it is joyous work! I’m captivated by returning to my old pregnancy memoir. Being in conversation with my younger self is enlightening. I’m grateful she recorded her experiences. I couldn’t do the work I’m doing now without her diligence.

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​Today, my creative process consists of three steps: pluck, shape, and polish. Let’s take a closer look:
 
Pluck. After copying and pasting the old draft chapter into a new document, I read it from beginning to end without stopping. I ignore spelling and grammatical errors, imprecise or lazy word choices, and rambling. I keep an open mind and allow ideas to wash over me, to leave impressions. On my second read-through, I identify stories. Tease apart text. I cut broad swaths of words and paste them into an “Outtakes” document.
 
Shape. Once I have a rough outline of stories, I name them. Now it’s time for shaping. A story (or personal essay) has a beginning, middle, and end. Your opening grabs the reader and introduces conflict. Your middle grapples with the problem. Your end resolves the issue and reflects the change. Unlike anecdotes, stories require evolution or transformation. This can be dramatic or subtle, but movement (emotional and/or physical) is necessary. At this stage, I ask myself, what is this story about? What’s at stake? How can I make a reader or listener care? What does this story mean? What is its purpose? This same inquiry works for narrative poems. I often don’t know the answers to these questions, but they guide me. As I tinker, solutions arise, which help shape the story. Dinty W. Moore, editor of Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, talks about what he calls the “Invisible Magnetic River,” where everything in your story/essay must point to or illustrate your work’s theme or purpose. If it doesn’t, cut it. Even great lines. As the saying goes, “Murder your darlings.”
 
Polish. Once I shape my story, I try to make it shine. I cut adjectives and adverbs and chose muscular nouns and verbs instead. I check wordhippo.com for fresh word choices. I lean on images to convey meaning, practice showing and telling, and focus on details. “No ideas but in things,” the poet William Carlos Williams famously said. This means ideas should be grounded in concrete, tangible objectsrather than expressed in abstract terms. I also aim for clarity. Shirley Jackson once said, “A confused reader is an antagonistic reader.” It’s okay to begin with a mess; start anywhere and create an overwritten first draft. Anne Lamott says: “You just jump in, knowing that the water will be cold at first, but no one is making you swim.” If you relax and enjoy the process, the water will get warmer, and you may not want to come out. Make your writing shimmer like iridescent herring scales. Prize brevity. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” Be concise, and swim in an ocean of your own making.
 
I’m never sure what I’ve written will be clear or compelling to a reader. I sometimes overwrite or state what has been implied. I’m grateful to have excellent editors. Without them, I’d feel adrift in a sea of stories. Editors are life rafts. Every month, I send my editor work. She gives me notes. I revise. She reviews my revisions, and then I begin the process again. It helps to hold all of this lightly, not take myself or the writing process too seriously, and have fun.

Thanks to writing circle regulars who shared these sweet thoughts at our final Winter 2025 circle:
 
“Bella makes people feel seen, valued, and encouraged.”
--Vik Sheldon, Artist, Activist, Writer, New Westminster, BC 
 
“Bella helps me come alive and grow.”
--Judith Lynn Antelman, poet and author of The Pugilist’s Daughter, Montclair, New Jersey
 
“I write for my circles mates; it's like show-and-tell on steroids!”  
--Drake Childress, music-maker and word-wrangler, Los Angeles
 
I have a few openings in my spring writing circles, which begin April 21. Please let me know as soon as possible if you’d like to join us.

P.S. I’ll be attending AWP 2025. Please let me know if you're going. I’d love to see you there!