Doug Downs discusses the importance of revision in the reading “Revision Is Central to Developing Writing” and how it is beneficial for authors to rely on it. It is important to revise your work throughout the writing process to ensure that you did not overlook anything over the process of writing your paper. Doug makes it clear that revision is important, and that authors who avoid revision are more likely than not to make as much progress with their writing as writers who do the opposite. According to Downs, “Writers who do not revise have fewer opportunities to improve.” (Doug Downs).
Some people believe that revision is just looking for the little things to fix, but in fact, it is a lot more than that. Revision is what makes writing easier as it gives the opportunity to fix what is wrong, revision also helps with making sure there is no holes in your writing. Most writers make certain language and ideas part of their writing habits, however, revision gives writers the opportunity to welcome new ideas and new language. Although it does not seem that hard, perfecting your first draft is nearly impossible. it is their first shot at making an impression on an audience and writing about something new for the first time which is why it makes sense that it is not perfect. There are a lot of writers who refuse revision, those writers are usually people who do not accept criticism all that well and they hate to hear that they are wrong, especially about their writing.
Writing is a difficult process, but it ends up creating art, and art is meant to take time to create. Although when someone revises their writing, that does not mean the writing is perfect. It may take many attempts to create a piece of writing that feels right as there is no perfect system for writing. Although revision is meant to be looked at as something great and helpful, there are many people that look at revision as a consequence, taking it as nothing but negative. Coming from personal experiences, it is common that revision is looked at as a bad thing. I can not even begin to tell you how many times I got a piece of writing back from a teacher with comments simply telling me to revise, and every time I felt like I was being targeted. Overall, revision is one of the best writing tools ever invented and it should only be looked at as that.
