Daniel Paliwoda

Monday 26 February 2024 Like my college students, I, too, wish I could get through the revision stage of my writing process faster and easier than I am currently doing.  And like them, I, too, have thought, “Do I really need to revise this or that section?”  I tell myself what I tell those reluctant […]

Monday 19 February 2024 When drafting this blog on revision, I initially entitled it, “When Revision Is Cutting.”  I liked the title.  Within moments after writing out the title in my notebook, I fastened upon the word, “Cutting.”  I grimaced, puzzling over “Cutting.”  I didn’t like the word.  Slashing, carving, lacerating…. all violent and destructive

Friday 16 February 2024 Russian Prison Services declared that Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner Alexei Navalny is dead.  I am speechless not because I was caught off guard by this news, but because the death declaration confirms my worst fears.  At this point, no one can say they were genuinely shocked

Monday 12 February 2024 King Arthur’s editorial skills impress me because his various professional roles and positions: dissertation writer and published author, philosophy professor, and military officer not only account for his objectivity and credibility as a manuscript reader but explain his subtleness, discernment, and empathy as a reader.  He deftly struck a balance between

Monday 05 February 2024             Revision isn’t always cutting a paragraph or an entire section from a written draft.  Revision doesn’t always mean adding or creating new content.  Revision can be rearranging parts of a text to other places in the draft, inserting them earlier or later in the draft.  At first, this form of

Monday 29 January 2024             It happens.  A written draft section requires no cutting, adding, or rearranging.  The draft section needs no further alteration.  It’s actually good.  The draft then can proceed to the next phase of the writing process: editing.  Although this assessment seems to be a productive and even a happy one, this

Now that the first serious draft of my Katyn manuscript is complete, I now begin the next stage of the writing process: the revision.  Revising one’s written work is both exciting and daunting.  The etymological roots of “revision” are “to look or see at again,” “to visit again,” and “to look back.”  The word history

Friday 12 January 2024 This past Tuesday (09 January 2024), King Arthur (my book editor) and I completed the first major editing of the Katyn manuscript.  I know, I know… I typically publish my blogs on a Monday; however, this important news is too good to wait for Monday.  I’m thrilled with this achievement, and

Monday 08 2024 When people ask me to describe my writing process for the Katyn manuscript, I chuckle first not because what they said was funny, and I laugh not because the question is silly or unreasonable.  “How will they react when I tell them writing the book was like experiencing an exorcism, several of

Monday 01 January 2024 I don’t walk the dog.  Laska walks me.  Sure, she benefits from our daily walks: exercise, stress relief, joy.  She glories in nature’s splendor.  The curious and familiar smells charm her.  The plushness and sensation of green grass delight her.  All these joys of nature improve her well-being, but I must