It's sometimes possible to reorganize a piece of writing at the revising stage of the process. But that's a little like changing the floor plan of a house after you've built it.
Yes, you could conceivably cut the garage off a completed house and move it to the other end of the building, but that's certainly not the best time to do it. Organizing your information, like laying out the rooms of a house, is best done at the planning stage.
As the great twentieth-century English philosopher Winnie the Pooh said, "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed up."
Ken, your house analogy is a great one. I've often told students that trying to plan and structure a piece of writing once they've reached the draft stage is like trying to work with a house's foundation after they've started decorating. Hooray for great metaphors!
Posted by: Adina Gewirtz | 07 February 2008 at 12:56 PM