Way back before we all had word processors and Google Drives, every new draft had to be rewritten in its entirety. There was an upside to that. A writer had to really reevaluate every word and decide if it was worth typing out — or handwriting — over again.

A great tool for revising is to go back to that old-fashioned way of revising. Whether you're working on a poem, a paragraph, a story or a novel, consider creating a fresh draft that you type up from scratch. You will likely reduce the total length and end up with a leaner, better text, though you may also find yourself adding in lots of new material along the way.

PROMPT: Take a page, an important one, and read it over a few times. Then set it aside and rewrite it. You can of course refer to the original, but idea is to go with the new version that comes out of your head rather than being your own scribe. At the end of that page, compare the two and merge them or make adjustments. Keep the best of both versions, lose the dross. You could extend this task to any scale of work.