Rewriting. “Most readers underestimate the amount of rewriting it usually takes to produce  spontaneous reading.” (page 28)

Writing on its own is the action of composing text and literature, on the other side, revision is reading your own text – usually with the intention of modifying it.  Revision cannot be compared to writing, because revision is a fundamental step of proper writing. It is when the writer finishes their first draft (“Draft Zero”), the foundation of their work, and criticizes their own text from the point of view of the audience, with the job to; better understand the image perceived by the reader, confirm that they are delivering the information the reader needs and desires, as well as assuring that their form and tone are correct for the intended audience. In the text, Murray makes constant use of the verbs “writing”, but even more so, “rewriting” by which he emphasizes on the importance of revision and subsequent amending and improvement of a piece of writing until it is of the liking – or at least the acceptance – of the very own writer, seeing their own work from a 3rd perspective; “the last act of the writing must be to become one’s own reader”. In the act of revision, it is important for the writer to keep an open mind to criticism, be this their own or from other individuals (family, peers, friends, etc). When rewriting their work, the author must select critic commentaries and thoughts, filtering the constructive content that they find the most useful for their writing piece. Revision, in other words, is doing critical analysis and critical reading of their own work – this can be especially challenging for a writer as when they read their own text they already know their goal and the tone intended. When doing this critical analysis, which further connotes rewriting, it is important for the author to remember to maintain the original purpose of the text. The objective in the process of rewriting is not to change the spirit of the writing piece, or what this one intends, but to improve its vehicle, which is how it is delivered to the audience. 

Writing is like baking, revision is going over the recipe to make sure you did things correctly while judging the taste of the dough and its consistency – depending on what you want to achieve, rewriting is adding a little more of this and that depending on the baker’s intuition of the mixture. A great detriment for writing apprentices is that they only get to appreciate the final result, they get to taste the cake but don’t get to see the recipe nor they have an idea of the writer’s struggle to achieve the end product. Most writing students assume that professional writers have no need to revise their work, that writing is just a second nature of theirs and requires little to no effort do to constant practice – while this is not one hundred percent erroneous it’s certainly very far from the truth. Being a good writer on its very definition it’s a vicious cycle of drafts, revision, and rewriting; all of it in an effort towards perfection, for which a good writer most naturally be a perfectionist, never fully satisfied with their work, even after it has been submitted and published.