When Dethier writes “… for most of us revision is the only road to success,” he means every revision brings the piece closer to being a better and more refined piece. Dethier is trying to give rise to the notion that the revision process is not the enemy that is finding the faults of the writing piece but rather finding ways to enhance the piece. Dethier is acknowledging others’ resistance of revision and explaining the reason behind the resistances as well as the misunderstandings of the revision process. Each revision only makes the piece better because every time the piece is re-examined there is something new that can be further developed or there is a new lens that can be used to analyze the piece. The statement can also be interpreted as success is only measured by the withholder thus, the revision process ends when the writer has felt that the piece is worthy of being labeled complete or published. There is also the fact that success, for many, is always changing which correlates perfectly to the revision process.
Dethier uses the metaphor of working on a car to explain further the fact that there is always additional work that can be done to improve the functioning of the piece or the car in this instance. A metaphor that I use to describe the revision process is that revision is deciding what outfit to wear for a certain event. I thought of this metaphor because for every event you might have a certain outfit picked out that you think will perfectly suit the type of event, however, there will always be something you could change or add to make the outfit look better. Nonetheless, you stop altering the outfit when you feel content about how it looks pertaining to your style. Additionally, there are multiple parts of the outfit that can be judged or examined by others that see you at the event so you think in those perspectives as well. Using this as a comparison can stem a more positive response toward revision.
When Murray writes “Good writing is essentially rewriting” he is referring to the fact that everything takes time and effort. Thus, if one recurrently edits a piece it will in turn be better than it started off. The revision process is also rewriting the thoughts in your head by putting it on paper. In addition, revision takes multiple tries and getting good at something does also; for example when being considered as “good” for a sport or skill it takes a lot of practice and concentration.