How much rewriting is enough?

[wise owl]

I agree that rewriting is necessary, but there are no rules regarding the scope of work or how many times a piece needs to be rewritten. I've never dedicated much thought to it until recently, when I started to write my own blog. Now, I consider rewriting as just another form of writing )) "Putting the words right" describes most precisely the process I'm going through. I can see a distinct difference between the roughness of the first piece and the smoothness of the polished, final piece.
By the way, Lev Tolstoy has rewritten "War and Piece" quite many times. Now this is what I call dedication )))

[RonBee]

The short answer to how much rewriting is enough:

until you get it right

Of course, nobody can tell how many rewrites that will be. The writer has to decide that for himself/herself.

[amackovjak]

Amma mentioned there are books that break down individual sentences and show a possible revision. Does anyone have the title of a book I could get that does that?
Thanks.

[konungursvia]

Originally Posted by RonBee

The short answer to how much rewriting is enough:

until you get it right

Of course, nobody can tell how many rewrites that will be. The writer has to decide that for himself/herself.

I agree. After spending ten years writing almost nothing but French essays and articles, and one French book, I wrote a book in my own language, English. It was easier, in a sense, but I was surprised how many times I printed a hard copy, and re-read it, only to find there were lots of changes I needed to make.

It took me about six or seven re-writes to get it right.