relax and write

Patrizia, Bec and Jenny busily cleaning up their sentences at our Italian retreat!

When we write our first drafts mostly we’re pouring words out in a frenzy, carried away by the story unfolding in our heads and getting it onto the page. Sentence structure doesn’t matter, or grammar or repetition, we’re busy creating the stone we’ll use to carve and sculpt our story. After this initial flurry and all the joy of creation, the real work of writing begins, rewriting — doing that sculpting and refining to shape and polish our stories to publishable standard. Writing is rewriting.

Whether you’re writing a short piece or something longer these 5 easy tips will help strengthen your writing.

Cut the total word count by ten percent.

Yes, I know this may have you weeping and gnashing your teeth. I certainly felt this way when one of my earliest mentors Judith Lukin-Amundsen told me to do so. But she’d edited Tim Winton and Kate Grenville, so I wasn’t going to argue. My 90 000 word MS had to lose 9000! The easiest way to do this is by cutting whole chapters or scenes that aren’t moving the plot forward, any characters that are only echoes of others or who can be conglomerated with another. EG only one best friend, not three. Write up a scene list and see what can go. We don’t need scenes recounting what went on in a previous scene, unless the perspective is completely different or we have new information. See here for how to do a scene list.

2. Cut the first and last sentence of every paragraph.

I can hear the screams from here! No! Not my fabulous opening line!

This is another tip from Judith L-A. You don’t have to take it literally, but you do need to look at every paragraph under a microscope to see what can go.

Have you written your way into the heart of what you wanted to say with some unnecessary set up? Is a character thinking back to an event that’s just happened? CUT. Did you get carried away by the beauty of your own words with a fancy last sentence at the end of every paragraph? Cut most so the best one shines. Make sure every sentence is contributing and not just repeating information we already have.

Just don’t cut off any thumbs!

3. Cut all backstory or research dumps.

Take a good look at your story, especially the opening after your hook, to check if you’re guilty of a backstory dump. This is a chunk of writing TELLING the reader all about your character (or your family history if doing memoir) in one big block. Instead, cut it and put aside to use for your own information and to weave through in snippets, revealing information a little at a time when relevant to the unfolding plot, without dragging us back into the past.

If you’re writing family history or historical fiction your MS may also be suffering from research dumps. These should be addressed similarly to the backstory dump, no matter how fascinating your discoveries. Intersperse research details as the story is being told, through the specific sensory details and settings where your characters are taking action.

4. Bring the reader as close as you can to the lived experience of your characters.

Cut all “can feel/hear/see/smell”. Instead of Sophie could feel the rain falling gently, use The rain fell gently on Sophie’s face, bringing the reader closer to the sensation. Not He could hear the roar of the plane’s engines, but The plane’s engines roared.

Fabulous old cemetery church in Sicily. Bury all those dead sentence openings!

5. Cut all dead sentence openings.

There is/was and It is/was are known as dead sentence openings, filler words that aren’t contributing and can almost always be trimmed from your sentences. For example: There is an old car in the driveway, can be changed to An old car lies rusting in the driveway. Take a good close look at all your sentences that begin with there are/is etc. and see if you can find a better way to structure them.

I hope these tips are useful and you can see immediately how your writing improves. Remember, less is always more. Leave room for your readers. Space on the page and between scenes can reveal more of the story that spelling everything out. CUT CUT CUT!

For more information on writing clearer, stronger prose see THIS POST.

Good luck! Rewriting has a joy of its own.

REMEMBER I have an Online Memoir and Life Writing Course coming up in January and February 2026. Six weeks of workshops, with feedback on your writing. Make 2026 your year to get stuck into that story that needs to be told. All the info HERE. Not writing from life? I have a series of recorded workshops to get you off to a great start too. Info HERE.

Lots of love,

Edwina 🙂 xx

Edwina on the beach in Dunsorough, Western Australia

Have a wonderful festive season!

Our fabulous fun bunch of writers this retreat!

Last retreat of the year was a hoot! What a wonderful group of women. I know, I know, I say it every time, but it really is the people who come along on these retreats that make them so special. As we share stories, tears and laughter, we build strong connections to carry us through our writing lives, to encourage and support us. Encourage is one of my favourite words because when you break it down, it’s En – COURAGE. When writers come together we help each other build courage to continue, because writing isn’t always easy and sometimes we need a cheer squad to get us back on track again.

Some of the fabulous writing cheer squad this retreat!

The sun shone for us this glorious spring retreat, with morning swims on the menu for me, yoga, writing workshops, and lots of Gay’s delicious home cooking to warm our bellies and our hearts. The focus this time was memoir and life writing – how to turn the events of our lives into compelling and publishable narratives. The weather was so good we even held a workshop outside listening to the birds and the whispering of the tall trees that watched over us all. Stories from the heart flowed freely and words poured onto pages that were no longer blank but filled with ideas to bring our stories to life.

On Saturday night at our traditional readings we had some beautiful pieces and an hilarious song which had us all weeping with laughter, from Jacqui who was visiting all the way from Townsville where she’s a founding member of Sistas in Comedy . Laughter really is the best medicine!

Our wonderful Chief Cookie Gay Liddington (whose own inspiring memoir Will I Ever Be Who I Am is due for release in May 2025 – stay tuned) did her very best to fatten us all up like Christmas geese with her homemade cakes and biscuits as well as with the healthy vegetarian meals that kept our writing brains fuelled.

Monique DeGoey of Reconnect Holistic Bodywork provided a special movement class and expert nurturing treatments that had everyone floating around so relaxed they resembled forest jellyfish! Thank you to dear Gay and Monique and our special helpers this time, Kylie, Sharon and Tash. And thank you to all the special souls who came along and made this retreat so warm and enjoyable.

Yummy!

Workshops covered finding the heart of your story, the central quest or question and how to shape a story that may not have a lived ending yet. We wrote to prompts that brought out some beautiful pieces, unfiltered and powerful. Women of all ages connected through shared truths, learning from each other, growing not only as writers but as seekers and human beings. I am so honoured to be able to bring these incredible people together. A special magic happens on retreat. You have to be there to feel it!

All weekend the sun shone brightly for us, the pademelons barely glanced sideways as the writing women descended, birds sang their own stories to the tree tops, the creek babbling never-ending tales. The wisdom of the Kombumerri people of the land grounded deep in the earth, seeped into our stories, hushed whispers in our ears. As always the view was magnificent and humbling. How lucky are we to be alive to experience it all?

The next Springbrook Memoir retreat is April 4- 6, 2025. Places are already filling so BOOK YOUR PLACE SOON!

And if you’re ready for a GRAND ADVENTURE! Then come and join us in Heavenly Hoi An for our Vietnam Writing Retreat. SIX NIGHTS and SEVEN DAYS of writing workshops, excursions, yoga, breath work, tarot readings, one on one feedback, feasting and more fun than you can poke a stick at all in unique 4 star accomodation by the river, with an overwater yoga studio! Prices start at only $2750 ALL INCLUSIVE.

PLUS TAKE AN EXTRA 15% off – VIETNAM NOW ON SALE! Book soon to make sure you don’t miss out. Hoi An is delightfully balmy at this time of the year, everything has just been scrubbed clean for New Year and the gentle kindness of the locals will blow you away. Isn’t it time you treated yourself to a writing dream? Plenty of writing time (or shopping/exploring time) plus the benefit of two highly experienced writing coaches and published authors. I’d love to have you with us! ALL THE INFO HERE