I have been around the block with some manuscripts and once I became a mom, I wanted to streamline my approach to revising and writing books. It’s a long process, but how could I learn to be a more efficient writer?

1. Take classes. I took Holly Liesl’s How to Revise Your Novel self-paced class. It’s 22 lessons that took me 18 months to finish, but I learned a helluva lot of information. I adapted her method for revising and use it for my novels, articles, and personal essays.
2. Group together revisions by topic. For example, any changes in Characters goes under my Character column, Plot changes gets its own section, etc. Then, I do a pass solely looking at character changes first. I tend to put the most important and most in-need of changes first—like Characters—and then put Proofreading at the end when I’m closer to being done.
3. Create a schedule. I like fake deadlines. I set them and work backwards on what I’ll tackle in 6-weeks (or longer if it needs it). I look at what kind of revision is ahead of me—page-one rewrite, minor changes, or a proofreading pass—and pace myself accordingly.
4. Ask yourself: Why does this story matter to me? Before I make one change, the first thing I work on is answering the question, “Why does this story matter to me?” It’s from Lesson 1 in Holly’s revision class and it’s brilliant. It helps me refocus on what drew me to write this book/essay/article in the first place.
5. Take breaks and celebrate when you’re done. When I finish a draft, I like to take a few days or weeks off from the project. Otherwise, you can’t see the forest from the trees. When I finish a big revision pass, I like to tell my writer friends to celebrate.