V. H. King's Ink

I started writing a post about how I go about the revision process, and then I realized how long it was getting. Like all Giant Tasks, I decided to break it up. If you read part one, you probably noticed that as straightforward as these steps might sound, things get messy pretty fast. Ever heard that bit about one task actually being a dozen tasks in a trench-coat? Yeah, that’s how a lot of my writing goes.

And so we go—onward!

Step Three: Time to Revise!

I revise my poems by hand, on paper, with a mechanical pencil. Most of the time, I do this directly on the printout of the poem I’m revising. Sometimes I start with crossing out a word here and there, but before long I’m rewriting lines and verses. I circle segments and draw arrows to give myself an idea of how to reorganize the information. I also number the verses once I know what order I want things in.

There I go, numbering things again…

Even though my handwriting tends toward small, I frequently run out of room—mostly because I cross things out, start over, redraw my arrows, you name it. I also write notes about images and themes: one-offs that might be useful for an illustration, or recurring ideas that keep popping up across poems. Because of this, I keep a stash of lined loose-leaf paper in my binder along with the printouts.

When things get too messy and I need to see the freshest, most recent version of the poem, I rewrite the entire thing (or at least, the messiest parts of it) on lined paper. That paper gets added to the sleeve—in front of the printout, given it’s shorter. (Re)Titles and numbers go on these lined pages as well, usually boxed in blue or purple or green or…honestly, I just use whatever pen or highlighter is within reach.

If I’m lucky, I work on two or three poems at a time and maybe finish one. When the rhythm isn’t there, when I find myself getting way off track, when I know I’m writing my way to something but not writing The Actual Thing—that’s when I move on. I flip through my binder, skimming titles and verses, and find something else to work on.

More often than not, I go weeks without revising anything or working on illustrations. I allow myself to not know the answers. I remind myself to not default to problem-solving. Sometimes I just have to leave all the knots in the middle of the thread instead of pulling and yanking my way to whatever false pretense of perfection I think I’m supposed to achieve.

I also give myself time to recover—because I forget how much this takes out of me. I forget how powerful the work is, how unwavering my resolve. I used the word forget, but that’s not quite the right word. I’ve known these things all along, but I’m not always steeped at such depths in the immediacy of the work. It’s like the difference between knowing your favorite band from middle school and listening to them with the windows down while singing at the top of your lungs—one experience is much more embodied than the other.

P.S.—Have you been updating your spreadsheet along the way?

Mark which poems are fully revised (there’s a checkbox for a reason!). Make sure any new titles are noted, and make sure those new titles are written next to the correct old titles. When in doubt, double-check your numbers.

You may or may not find it helpful to quietly balk at your (lack of) progress, but deep down you know that things are happening when and how they need to—even if you don’t know what any of that means.

Step Four: Rearrange & Redecorate!

Once I have about two-thirds of my poems revised, I start thinking (more) about the order I want these to be in for the manuscript. There are some poems that just scream their place as I’m going along. They pair with this poem over here, or they demand to be in the front, or they’re certain they should be next to last. I usually end up with 3-5 drafts for the table of contents, several of which include illustration placements.

It’s important to note that I may or may not have finished (or even sketched!) any of these illustrations at this point. Part of the work here is considering the media I want to use for those illustrations. What can I use that’s most evocative of the poems I’ve written? For LitMiH, the answer was brush pen and marker paper. I loved how bright and vivid the colors were—robust, hyper-saturated, vibrant.

For Volume2? We’ll just have to see!

Step Five: Retype & Revise!

Wait, didn’t I already do all my revisions in Step Three? Sort of, yes. I did the heavy lifting, but not the fine-tuning. Remember how I said my handwriting runs small and cramped and I’ve scribbled the final version of the poem across two and a half pages? This is the part where I have to clean that up.

I start by creating Yet Another Word Doc and I retype all the poems in order (for real this time). I still include the reference numbers from the Original MegaDoc&Sheet to save myself a headache later, but I’m less concerned with the number of poems in the volume—because by this point, I already know, or maybe I don’t know, but I don’t care. Between my rearranged binder, the VolumeSheet, and whatever my (tentative) Final List is for the table of contents, I’m able to cross-reference and double-check and make sure everything is accounted for.

As I retype, I do additional edits on word order and choice, line breaks and verse structure, title and tone. I pay close attention to my imagery, focusing on purposeful repetition.  I’m ensuring recurring themes are explored and expanded in ways that connect and contrast throughout the manuscript.

There’s also an element of pacing, which includes illustrations, thematic concepts, and poem length. These are the kinds of revisions that span the micro-level as much as the meta-manuscript. Being up close and personal to the poems and illustrations is just as important to this step as is my time away. At the end of however many weeks or months or years—

Hey guess what?! You did the revisions!

Now it’s time to take a break. Go paint something big and messy and bright. Reorganize your closet and dresser. Bake some cookies or cupcakes, invite your family over for a dinner party, go on a roadtrip.

And then get ready for the hardest part of all: formatting a manuscript into a print-ready file. Actually—that’s just the next hardest part. There will be plenty of other hurdles hurled your way, so enjoy every win as it comes!