Certain things get better when they’re allowed to age. Cheese and wine are great examples. Writing is another.
I’m not talking about the dusty classics that populate high school and college reading lists. And I’m not suggesting that blogs and bylines need to be racked in temperature-controlled environments for years and years before posting.
Writing usually doesn’t need more than a single overnight to improve, but that period can make all the difference between a forgettable draft and a piece that makes a genuine impact. It’s not that anything happens to the writing overnight; it’s what happens to the writer.
There are writers who can produce impeccable copy on the first try, but they’re rare and I’m not one of them. However, my 40 years’ experience as an editor and writer has taught me that allowing a piece of writing to sit overnight and returning to it the next day with fresh eyes almost always results in something better.
What seemed insightful or clever in the moment of writing often looks flat or clumsy in the light of a new day. Our enthusiasm for what we’ve written fades upon second glance and that’s what gives us the opportunity to reassess and revise.
Giving the writerly brain an overnight opportunity to mull things over—even unconsciously—can deliver new perspective and insights.
Social media has conditioned us to believe that speed and volume trump content. Whether it’s live-tweeting (live-Xing?) a game or movie or rushing to comment on a news event, posting first has become the goal. We lionize the companies whose social media managers are nimble enough to come up with the perfect post in real-time.
But for every one of those pitch-perfect posts or commentaries, there are countless duds that disappear without a trace. Ask yourself what you remember from that torrent of disposable content—was it the first thing you read or was it the one that expressed the most interesting or insightful content?
Chances are it was the better written one with the quality content.
I went looking for quotes from famous writers to back up my argument and found a few:
“Only God gets it right the first time.” – Stephen King
“I have rewritten – often several times – every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.” – Vladimir Nabokov
“The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer.” – Zadie Smith
Of course, none of these writers worked in PR or marketing, which sometimes does require an immediate response, but the lesson still applies. Most of what we write is on a schedule that does allow for overnight aging -and our writing will be better for it.