the_uma•1mo ago

Why does revising a single stanza eat up my whole weekend?

Spent hours on one line and it still feels off.

4 comments

4 Comments

clairetaylor1mo ago

My roommate does that with song lyrics. She'll rewrite a chorus twenty times and still hate it the next morning.

juliahayes1mo ago

Totally get that. My friend Mike does the same thing with his novel's first chapter. He's rewritten the opening paragraph maybe fifty times over two years. Every draft sounds good at night, then he reads it with morning coffee and tears it all up again. It's like his brain resets overnight and rejects his own work. The cycle is honestly painful to watch sometimes.

tessam731mo ago

But what do they think causes that morning reset?

the_ben1mo ago

Mike rewriting his opening paragraph fifty times in two years blows my mind. That's like redoing the same thing every two weeks. @clairetaylor's story about twenty chorus rewrites hits home too. Spending a whole weekend on one stanza suddenly doesn't seem so bad.