About six weeks ago, I sent ten pages from my memoir-in-progress to a writing coach.
She and I sat down together about four weeks ago to discuss it. Her primary suggestion?
Edit. Leave the merely good writing behind. Keep the great writing.
And so I did. Along the way, I started referring to the process as a threshing. Separating the wheat from the chaff.
And because I am a data nerd (only one of the many aspects of my nerd-dom), I kept track. My writing coach’s suggestion was to trim fifteen percent.
But I got into a rhythm. Once I knew where to thresh, I hit my stride.
The threshing is complete. The memoir is heading to beta readers as we speak.
