It’s always a good idea to let your writing sit for a few days to see what new ideas might form or new revision ideas might bubble to the surface.
Let the text marinate without you for a while. You’ll find you wake up with an idea or you’ll remember something you wanted to add here or there. I wait 2-3 days before I send “finished writing” on to an agent or publisher. I make sure I have time to think apart from the text.
Sure enough, in the middle of the night, I’ll remember something I wanted to add or something I could correct. These thoughts come with separation from a story or a nonfiction piece.
This advice helps when it comes to deadlines. It’s good to finish a piece of writing well before the deadline so it can sit for a bit. And you can sit for a bit. You can come back to it and remember things you’d never think about when you were in the thick of a creative moment.
So while I wanted to turn in a project on Friday, I’ll wait till Monday to see what thoughts come up as I let the writing sit.
[bctt tweet=”Before you send writing along to agents or publishers, let it sit for 2-3 days. You’ll consider edits in the middle of the night or early morning that you couldn’t access in the thick of creativity. #amwriting #writingadvice”]