Nothing kills my creativity faster than grief. It’s like my mind gets tunnel vision and my whole demeanor is sad. I try to find the creative pieces in every part of life but in these moments I can’t.
So I look elsewhere for comfort. I usually start with my Bible and that helps the healing process begin. To heal my creativity I look to the legends to inspire me again. So here are some quotes about editing and rewriting that I find helpful. Enjoy.
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” ― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” ―
“Learn to enjoy this tidying process. I don’t like to write; I like to have written. But I love to rewrite. I especially like to cut: to press the DELETE key and see an unnecessary word or phrase or sentence vanish into the electricity. I like to replace a humdrum word with one that has more precision or color. I like to strengthen the transition between one sentence and another. I like to rephrase a drab sentence to give it a more pleasing rhythm or a more graceful musical line. With every small refinement I feel that I’m coming nearer to where I would like to arrive, and when I finally get there I know it was the rewriting, not the writing, that wont the game.”
― On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
“As his editor put it, “Yeah, it’s a piece of shit, but it’s good shit.”
― Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
“The editor-writer relationship should not be thought of as adversarial.”
― Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction
“A good editor is someone who cares a little less about the author’s needs than the reader’s” ―
“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” ―
“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.” ―
“Remove the comma, replace the comma, remove the comma, replace the comma…”
―
Happy Questing!
Quest Type 
2 thoughts on “Revising Grief”