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The Better Writer Weekly

Writing vs. Weddings

Published 29 days ago • 2 min read

Hi Reader,

On Monday, I officiated my second wedding in Sedona (and yes, that’s why this newsletter came out behind schedule).

Everything went well except for the part where I forgot to tell everyone to sit down after they stood for the bride’s entrance (I blame a combination of nerves & the fact that it wasn’t written into my script).

Oops…

Thankfully, it was an intimate micro-wedding, and everyone had a good laugh when the photographer finally came up the aisle motioning for people to sit.

The rest of the wedding went smoothly, and my future brother- and sister-in-law are officially married!

The experience got me thinking about why officiating is so stressful: there are no redos.

Sure, you can reread something in the moment, and if the marriage doesn’t last, both spouses can try again with someone else.

But you can’t redo that specific wedding ceremony.

It’s a live performance, one night only, everyone is watching and hanging on every word.

It’s not about the officiant at all, and yet they are integral to making the wedding a success (just ask my friend whose officiant mispronounced her name throughout the ceremony…).

Writing doesn’t work that way.

We can hit the delete key, rewrite, delete again, rewrite again, delete, delete, delete, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite and repeat over and over and over again.

That’s a beautiful thing - you don’t have to get it right in one go.

But it’s also dangerous.

Endless rewriting means endless opportunities to overthink, second-guess, and spiral as you try to figure out how to make your book “perfect” (spoiler alert, my friends, you won’t get there).

The fact that we can revise endlessly doesn’t mean that we should revise endlessly, and the best way to avoid revisions that go nowhere is to start with a step-by-step revision plan that helps you avoid revision missteps along the way.

And that’s exactly what I’m teaching in my free Revision Kickstart Challenge on 9/22-9/24.

We’ll talk about how to start your revisions off the right way and my best tips for crafting a revision plan that works for you.

Get the details and register for free here.

Better Living

I don’t have a ton of photos from Sedona, but here are my favorites so far!

Better Reading

Travel cut into my reading time, so I’m still slowly working my way through Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife* by Deston J. Munden. The end is in sight, and I’m thinking I’ll need to add more cozy fantasy to my rotation going forward!

Thank you for reading, have a wonderful week, and don't forget to register for my free Revision Kickstart Challenge!

With love,

Olivia

Your story matters. Let's make it great.

Curious to know how I can help? Check out my services here. I can't wait to work with you, so you can write the book your future readers are waiting for!

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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*Just FYI - I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org. If you happen to make a purchase through one of these links, I'll get a small comission and you'll be supporting this small business. Thank you!

The Better Writer Weekly

Olivia Bedford | Book Coach & Developmental Editor of Genre Fiction

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