Our quote today says that "Sometimes, all you need to do is look at things from a different perspective." It sounds so simple, and it is, but you can also reap benefits from stepping back and using a different approach.
One way writers can do that is to put a first draft in a file and leave it there for a few days, or even longer. I guarantee you will see what you had written in a new light. You probably read the draft from start to finish when you were done. That's fine. We should do that. It gives us an overall picture of what we've written.
Don't start editing and revising at that point. Put the draft in a file and go on to other projects. Leave it there for several days or longer. Then open the file and read the draft again. Things that you had not seen in that first reading will pop out. You'll see places that need additions, some where you should delte, and also the mechanical errors. That first draft is nothing more than a beginning. When you look at it later, it's with fresh eyes and a different stance.
Another place you can change perspective is to put yourself in the editor's place when you receive a rejection. Read what you had submitted again, but read it as an editor might. Even though you may be happy with what you had sent, there was a reason it wasn't accepted. You might see some errors that you can fix before submitting elsewhere.
Even another way to change perspective is to read your work as you think a reader would read it. Do this especially to look for clarity. What the writer knows and sees in his/her mind as clear as daylight may be muddled by the reader who doesn't have the benefit of knowing what was in the writer's mind. Look at humorous parts. It may have been funny to you when you wrote it, but would a reader see the humor?
Things do change when we look at them from a new angle, and the person who benefits from doing this is you, the writer. Take a little time and look at your writing projects from that different perspective.
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