The Revision Process

How revising my book is like re-envisioning my life.

Please excuse my radio silence but I’ve been in a writing cocoon: recently, a literary agent expressed interest in my manuscript!

This week, at the Rome Film Festival, I stumbled across the above poster, which seemed both inspiring and providential as an idea for the cover of my book, which I have titled “Life Al Dente.” (But I’d remove that man with the furrowed brow and smack my kids above the plate of spaghetti.)

Since early September, after feedback from my agent, I’ve been revising my book. I’m hoping it now reads less like a collection of personal essays, and more like a memoir. I’m removing repetition, and trying to add connective tissue to anecdotes patched together in a messy, hand-made quilt.

Friends and family keep asking me why it’s taking so long. In penning my personal story, revising it is like spending five hours in therapy a day. It’s not an easy process and doesn’t happen overnight.

My deadline to complete this revision is November 8th, the day one of my best friends will also be running a marathon. We made a deal two months ago that we would support each other in our parallel marathons as she trains and I revise, and we both make it to the finish line. Today I got thinking about the word “deadline,” which, given how she and I are both feeling, leads me to believe that the concept came about because, by the time you reach one, you feel dead.

I’m grateful to my husband who recently banished me to a three-night-getaway so I could get a boost on my revision without the distractions of meal-planning and household management. I stayed at Vigna Caio on the Lago Bracciano, a dreamy spot only a 45-minute drive from Rome. Because it welcomes dogs over kids, I took our pup Zabaglione for a self-imposed writing retreat together.

While working, I have been inspired by others involved in similar revision births, and I share two Italian projects which, in full disclosure, are close to me:

In mid-October, my son Luca, and a group of his classmates at Milan’s Universita’ Bocconi, founded Agora’, an international, non-profit publication produced exclusively by undergraduate university students interested in how politics shape everyday lives. They cover topics ranging from domestic affairs, international governance, economics and innovation, art, culture and identity, and science, technology and environment. They reach out to students already on-site in countries around the world, and ask them to write about local, political issues. They have assembled 15 articles in a monthly journal spotlighted on a global stage, offering a unique platform for editors, writers, and graphic designers alike.

Please follow them on Agora’ Instagram — this team gives me hope for bright voices during these dark times.

And, then, two friends of mine — Michele Masneri, a journalist for Il Foglio, and Antongiulio Panizzi, a film producer and director — created a superb documentary about Alberto Arbasino, renowned author of Fratelli d’Italia, a novel about two gay men traveling throughout Italy and Europe during Italy’s colorful sixties. Masneri describes Arbasino’s cult read as “an Italian mix of Gore Vidal and Truman Capote.” Their film had its coming out at this year’s Festa del Cinema di Roma.

Below here is a clip I love for two reasons: we not only see Michele visiting Arbasino’s cluttered archive of massive work surrounding a proverbial elephant in the room.

But we also hear Arbasino, in an old interview, sharing his belief that it’s natural, as a writer, to want to revise a work that was once considered complete.

“Non esiste quella cosa che si chiama il testo definitivo,” he says, stressing that “definitive text” does not exist. Observations change with moods, with readings, with time, and with passions that come and go.

In fact, Arbasino first published Fratelli d’Italia in 1963. Then, he revised it, and published it again in a new edition in 1967. Once more, in 1976, he revised and republished it again. Finally, he did it one last time in its final 1993 publication. Each copy has become its own vintage version of the original. All four are part of the literary cult cannon that make up his completed works. This iconic Italian satire has never been translated into English.

If you want to read more about Alberto Arbasino’s life, peruse Masneri’s book off of which his documentary is based. And, be sure to watch Panizzi’s other great films in addition to this terrific documentary. I loved learning that Arbasino was never entirely satisfied with his “final” version, as it consoled me that I’m not the only writer-perfectionist out there as I struggle to finish my own work.

Just before I crawl to the finish line with my revision, I’ll be joining two friends in running an all-women’s retreat dedicated to designing your life from November 2nd-6th in Rome. It is based off of Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s Designing Your Life, an empowering book inspired by their popular class of the same name taught at Stanford University. If you want to come, sign up, hop on a plane to Rome, and join us!

Signing off now to “book it” with my revision.