So in surfing the interwebs I came across a story on www.WritersDigest.com that I am going to steal. It was written by Zachary Petit and can be found here.
Sarcasm: Everybody copies and pastes. Plagiarists just get caught. – Me
I went looking for a funny picture to throw on this page but realized that whatever I found would also be technically stealing so I had to come up with the above quote off of the top of my head. I swear it wasn’t copied. Now I did get the phrase “interwebs” from Stephen Colbert a number of years ago who, if I remember correctly, was paraphrasing the late senator Ted Stevens from Alaska. Where Ted got it from… who knows?
You write a book four times.
When you’ve finished the fourth writing, you’re done—or at least ready to show your manuscript to an agent or editor.
Here, briefly, is how that process works:
1. The Close-In Writing
The basic method: You write a day’s worth of work (either fiction or nonfiction)—whatever that means for you. Next day, before you write anything new, you revise and edit the previous day’s work. This is the “close-in writing,” and becomes the first draft—the first time your write your book.
2. The Close-In Edit
When the entire first draft is complete, you go back through and, beginning with word one to the end, you revise and edit the entire manuscript on your computer. This is the “close-in edit,” and becomes your second draft: the second time you write your book.
3. The Distance (or “Hand”) Edit
Next, you print a hard copy of the second draft of your entire manuscript. Beginning with word one to the end, you hand-edit the hard copy, scrawling notes and profanities to yourself all the way through the margins. Then, using your hand-edit notes as a reference, you go back into your computer file and revise the manuscript as needed. This is the “distance edit,” and becomes your third draft: the third time you’ve written your book.
4. The Oral Edit
Finally, you print a new hard copy and read your entire manuscript aloud. Read it to the walls, to your spouse, to the patrons at Starbucks, to your dog, to the bowl of soggy Cocoa Puffs left over from breakfast. Doesn’t matter who’s in the room, only that you can hear yourself reading it. Start with word one and don’t stop until you read the last word. Yes, it may take you several days, but that’s OK. Keep reading every word out loud until you’re done.
Write your book four times.
Then it should be ready.