(Michael Brigando) Day 15

1).On page 117 of “Revising Attitudes”, Brock Dethier responds to a caveat towards revision, which stated the revision is a sign of failure with the statement “… For most of us, revision is the only road to success”. Dethier is trying to say that not only is revision not a reference to failure, but revision is done by most (if not all) writers. If writers need to revise their papers in order to create their work, why would such an activity be seen so negative? As an important part of the process of writing to most writers, revising should be seen as a sign of success and improvement.
2). Revising a piece of writing can be like learning to prepare a new meal. Before you can really master the process of preparation and cooking, you have to do it first without much help or experience. This creates a sort of benchmark. It might not be the best it could be, and many can become discouraged at this point. But if one takes this as a foundation for improvement, they could think of ways on how to make it better, apply those changes, and create a better version of the dish next time. Not to mention, just like writing, there is usually always a way to mek a dish better, meaning the revision process never really ends.
3). In his essay “Revising Your Own Manuscripts”, Donald Murray writes, ” Good writing is essentially rewriting”. Murray pretty much sums up what Dethier was trying to say in his piece. A good piece of writing requires revision, and a good writing process requires a piece of work to undergo a few sessions of revision. Murray also goes beyond the statement to imply that this statement is almost like a rule writers should follow.