Surgery of the Samurai

As Ernest Hemingway said, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.” This is the most tedious part of any authors’ journey: the revision process. To effectively revise, a writer must cut his or her work up: moving sentences or entire paragraphs, adding words to make it flow, essentially reworking the entire piece.”  Natalie Goldberg captures the essence of revising in her chapters “The Samurai” and “Reading and Rewriting” from Writing Down the Bones.

Goldberg draws an analogy between revising a piece and using a samurai sword. “Like a samurai with an empty mind who cut their opponents in half, be willing not to be sentimental about your writing when you reread it. Look at it with a clear, piercing mind.” The first part accurately captures how I look at the task of rewriting: a brutal, mindless murder of innocent words. However, I often find it difficult to clear my mind and mutilate, then rebuild my own piece.

I must perfect my eyes to be as sharp as a samurai’s blade. It is only then when I can properly dissect my writing. “When you’re in the samurai space, you have to be tough. Not mean, but with the toughness of truth.” It is very difficult to look at my own writing and see what flows, what is a complete mess, and what reads as beautiful prose. I know what I mean to say, so I read it that way, mentally filling in all the gaps. In other cases, I like each individual sentence so much that I cannot bear to remove even one, despite the lack of cohesion. However, this is when I need to get into the samurai mindset and remove myself from the sentimentality of my work. It is then I can remember Goldberg’s words: “Write one good line, you’ll be famous. Write a lot of lukewarm pieces, you’ll put people to sleep.”