One of my favorite things to teach is novel and memoir revision. In most of Author Accelerator’s events for book coaches and people interested in book coaching, we present a simplified version of what I outline in my book Blueprint for a Book: Build Your Novel from the Inside Out. More recently, I developed a masterclass for our certified book coaches called the 3D Revision Plan, a robust system for revision that builds out these ideas into meaningful tools our certified coaching community can use with their clients. We have never shared the process of revision in such a comprehensive way!

I’m not going to get into all the steps and offerings now — that’s something that comes with the benefits of certification — but I will share a simple three-page handout that sits at the very start of the whole revision process. It’s called The Revision Mindset, and you can get your copy by clicking the button below.

The handout is about the mindset I believe you need to approach revision. I have shared it in various courses and capacities for many years. I thought it was good to go, set in stone. But when I pulled it up and scanned it, I found myself questioning some of the words; I have come up with better ways of explaining these concepts.

I also felt that the list was incomplete. Why, for example, did I not talk about adopting a strategic mindset, when strategy is at the heart of everything I teach about writing?

Why did I not talk about being open to help, when my entire business is based on the fact that I believe writers do their best work when they get customized, comprehensive, one-on-one help?

I almost convinced myself that the handout was fine. I knew that if I revised it, I would inconvenience at least two Author Accelerator team members and put them behind schedule.

I also knew that if I revised it, I would have to break my own new goal of not working late at night. (This is not a frivolous goal; my husband has just retired and will be working part-time with me at Author Accelerator. I want his less frantic life to be an inspiration for me. I have worked so long and hard to build this company, and I now have a team to support me. I don’t have to shoulder every burden. I can work in a more measured way.)

But I read through the document, took to heart the advice about being patient, being honest, being brave, and set about staying up late to revise it. 

Yes, it’s only three pages. The tips are each quite short.  But that’s not the point. The point is that I am right here with you making the same kinds of choices you are making, and doing the same work you are doing to create work that resonates and impacts my readers — who just happen to be you.

This Advice is Much More Profound Than it Might Seem

As I worked on the handout and got it to a place I was happy with, it struck me that it would be very easy for someone to dismiss these eight mindset principles as meaningless.

I spend about five sentences describing each one — so how important can they really be? Extremely important, as it turns out.

Its importance is why I share tools and processes, systems and strategies for making sure your novel or memoir revision is not only as efficient as it can be, but as effective as it can be. It will be tactical and robust — the result of my 13 years as a book coach and a coach of coaches.

But none of what I teach will matter if you don’t embrace the principles on this handout.

Revision only works when you get your mind in the right place.