I was recently directed to a certain author’s blog, who, possibly jumping off from Heinlein’s third rule of writing, tells aspiring writers never to revise their work (or possibly even re-read anything they’ve written). Rather, he says just keep cranking out the prose and sending it out and/or publishing it, then moving on to the next thing.
Personally, the very idea of doing that horrifies me, since when I look at some of the old stuff I’ve written I can only be grateful no one else had a chance to see it until I had a chance to make it better, and figure out how I actually want the plot to function. But I understand that every writer is different, and no doubt many are slow, careful types who get things down pretty much the way they like the first time. But I can’t help but wonder if functioning this way might result in some books like the one in the old Bob and Ray skit:
It is my sad lot to be a