Revision is Everywhere (March Theme) by Bob Krech

I was walking with my wife earlier tonight and she was asking what this month's Smack Dab theme was. When I told her it was revision she said, "You love revision." And she wasn't joking.

I do love revision. It's the phase of the writing that I find the easiest and the most rewarding. Starting things is hard. Ending things is hard. But that part in the middle when you're kind of sculpting and buffing, and cutting and adding, is very satisfying to me. I can see and feel the results. I have something to work with and it really is guts of the process.

I was thinking too about how when I used to play a lot of basketball, I was constantly revising. I would work on my game in the driveway or out on a court and try to refine that jump shot or move to the basket. I would try it different ways and tweak it here and there, sculpting it and refining it just like with my writing.

With my job as a teacher I could see where that process of teaching, reflecting, and then revising is constant. Good teachers are continuously involved in this process both mentally and physically as they hone their craft. And it is a craft or art. Not a science. Just like so many other creative endeavors we do everyday like cooking, interacting with people, even cutting the grass. We keep changing it up, seeking the perfect way to do it and then ask ourselves, "Is that better?'

Artists in any field (even a grass one) are always revising.