thank you in in 1962 in a remote village in Scotland a team of American scientists discovered 16 people who all had the ability to fly actually that's not true but it just seemed like a really cool way to start a talk and and even though that beginning is sort of allege it's unleash it non Gitty well it doesn't really matter because revision has given us all the power to revise so I'd like to begin again I was born the son of a father who sold fish and chips at a fast food restaurant my mother was kind but due to an illness she spent a lot of time sleeping my older brother was very tall and my two sisters used to steal the nylon stockings off our neighbor's clothesline and put him over my head because they thought it improved my image yeah not everything I've experienced in life has been wonderful just like not everything we first write down is perfect so as I begin take note that it is not the beginning of the writing process I wish to talk about it is a spot closer to the end it is a spot where revision resides as a human I have spent my whole life in constant revision always wanting to change things up always wondering what if or how would it be while others whisper imagination and good for them I'm a fan of imagination but while they whisper imagination I shout revise you see the writing process is just that it is the process of vital steps that you must follow and I have talked all over the planet about what I egotistical II call the overt eight eight very important steps of writing and while each step in the process might come up well each step in the process is important I believe that step number five is the most frustratingly magical and step number five is to revise some might find the fifth step dreadful frightening hateful taxing unloved and unliked many might find the fifth step of horrible instead of Endora adorable enough as a matter of fact in a non-scientific and a non-existent poll it was shown that 87% of the population thinks revision is the worst yeah 87 percent you can't argue non-science and as negative as that is as negative as that is I'm here to testify of the power of revision and if you feel hated feelings for step number five I hope you might consider revising those feelings because revision is understanding it is long-suffering it is inquisitive it solves things it is the detective of writing it stands over the mangled paper laying on the desk and says I'm excuse me just one more question revision is the good cop to our bad copy yeah why do we why do we write to tell a story to express a point to share an idea why do we revise to tell the best story to properly express and to share the right idea I think as authors often we write down words for the benefit of us but we revise for the benefit of others because I believe or I submit that what truly makes our ideas worth sharing is revision as a child I used to imagine what it might be like to grow up and to become a writer I thought maybe I'd write under a beautiful tree on warm days in the lovely field maybe I'd used one of those feather pens dipped in dark ink and I would scribble out perfect stories on the first draft but as a grown up author I rarely find myself in warm fields instead I find myself in laboratories and dungeons ripping out the guts of my writing and stitching together a proper creation its revised so even I on certain days hate revision I'm human and it needs to be loathed but it is important and necessary good ideas can get lost or become hidden or never be discovered if they're buried under the laziness and misconception of a job well done when in reality it's still a job just begun every author I admire every script I find genius every book that has ever changed my life has been penned by an author who had the intelligence to realize that their ideas deserved to be properly revised in fact show me an author show me an author who claims never to use revision and I'll show you an author whose only genre is fiction and on top of that they're probably not that good yeah you've written your idea down fantastic now put it to work master the magic of revision stand like a wizard before your ideas remember that revision has the possibility to turn you turn your pens and pencils into wands don't be willing to add toads breath and newt liver if that's what it takes take out the small MUX of mistakes or the pockets of confusion as you brew your craft cast a spell of Correction and clarity revision can take a week sentence paragraph or paper and turn it into something substantive you spit out your idea but why settle for spittle when you can Huck something solid it doesn't really make sense but luckily there are other people who make much more sense than I do so to quote all of my favorite authors ever well I must say my favorite quote is to revise yeah the so poignant so moving DM another quote that I like is by a man by the name of William Hickson he was a man who lived and died and then left this behind if at first you don't succeed try try again well I might not have reached the elite status of dead but I'm hoping to leave this behind if at first you don't succeed revise revise again revision is multi-purpose ladle it on your talks and presentations put it on your stories and papers your programming and invention let it swarm up around you and change what you've once written into something much more than it once was revision let it change your writing into a movement and a feeling that will change and help other people revise their point of view is not revision what we all need aren't we as human beings always to revise what we see and hear and feel life is revision doesn't the written word deserve its share in the words of Rodney King's English teacher can't we all just revise revision will help your writing to be better be complete be great that reminds me of a story that I'm gonna pretend like I just remembered when um when I was a kid in our house we had this large fireplace it was a huge stone fireplace with a large opening and a heavy metal grate that you could close to shut it off but we never shut that fireplace because we needed to keep it open because we needed to keep a fire going all winter long well one of the problems with having to keep a fire going all winter long is that you're gonna need a lot of logs so in the summer we would have to stack and collect tons of wood and we didn't stack it by the house we stacked it down by the shed big huge massive piles of logs just to make sure we'd have enough wood so that when winter came we could keep that fire going well when winter did arrive it was my and my brother's job to bring those logs in and we hated that job we hated that job because it was cold we hated that job because we had to do it all the time we hated that job because the logs were heavy but the main reason we hated that job was because of the bees you see in the summer no sooner had we stacked all those logs when thousands of bees would swarm in and begin to make hidden homes and hives all throughout those dark spots between the logs and so when winter came and we had to bring those logs in we never knew where the bees would be and if we grabbed the wrong logs and disturbed some bees bad things would happen I remember one time pulling some logs and disturbing some bees they chased after me I slipped and broke my collarbone another time my brother grabbed some of the wrong logs he fell chipped his front tooth and was stung like five times and another time I'll never forget well it was a cold dark afternoon and my mom and brothers and sisters were inside on the couch keeping warm in front of the fire but they needed more logs so they sent me out so I walked down that path got a huge arm full of logs put a giant log on top and I carried them all back to my house and when I got back to the house I took that big log off the top and I threw it onto the already burning fire and instantly the flames came up and it began to burn and I set the rest of the logs down next to the fireplace and I took off my gloves and I was warming myself up in front of the fire while my mom and brothers and sisters were all sitting back on the couch and while I was warming myself up we started to hear the weirdest most uncomfortable noise like an angry monkey screaming and it stopped and then it began again and now was louder and more piercing and we couldn't figure out what that sound was coming from and then we realized it was coming from the fire and they're coming out of a dark hole from that top log was a trail of smoky bees their hive had been inside the log and when I threw it onto the fire it had awakened them all and as they crawled out of that hole they would catch on fire and fly out into our living room so we had a living room filled with smoking screaming flaming bees it was not hilarious it was horrible and my mom and my mom and my brothers and my sisters were all screaming at me closed that great closed that great because I could have slid that metal grate closed and stopped any more bees from coming out but I couldn't do it I froze I choked and my mom and my brothers and my sisters ran from the house screaming and my dad came running into the room wondering what the heck was going on and he quickly assessed the situation and closed that metal grate to stop any more bees from coming out and then he stood there by me while the rest of those bees that had already gotten out fell to the floor in dead little smoky piles and still to this day I have mixed feelings about bees and and maybe that story doesn't fit perfectly right here but it did contain a be great and that's what revision can help you do yes be great beyond yeah sure our lives are filled with frightening things like revision and bees but if you remember or if you choose to be wise what I hope you take from this is don't be afraid to revise if writing is a journey and it is revision is the part in the story where you meet up with the magical wizard it might seem gruff and kind of frightening but it holds a spell to release the magic of your words so be wise revise here in conclusion let me try this I was born the son of a noble fisherman my mother I was under a spell equal to any great queen or princess my older brother was a giant who towered over everybody and my two wicked sisters with the help of a stranger used to help cast spells to change my appearance yeah I like that better than what I started with I mean it's still not perfect but thank goodness for revision yeah and all of this revising only gets us closer to the most important step in the writing process and that step of course is to finish so on that note I'm done thank you all very much