The Revision Game
As you might have guessed, my tardiness has much to do with THE BOOK. July ended on a bittersweet note, with both my job getting crazy-busy and my dog falling ill. Misty is much better now, though still recovering, and I'm getting used to the roller coasterish excitement that is now becoming my day-to-day life at the office.
Meanwhile, Swoon Reads has been full of surprises! In case you missed it, voting for LOVE FORTUNES AND OTHER DISASTERS' cover totally happened. These lovely covers had been the choices:
Which one did you vote for?
The cover voting made me even more inspired as I work through my revisions. Which, by the way, has been going pretty well despite facing some intimidating changes. When I say "intimidating," I'm not talking about the meaning in a classic sense. My editorial letter rocked. After combing through the letter with my editor, Holly, and finding solutions and brainstorming for a good few hours, I'm excited. I can't wait to share the new scenes, the twists and turns that are forming underneath my fingers as I type them out into what's becoming a shiny new draft.
But if you've ever written anything, be it a short story, novel, or even essay, you know what I mean when I say that there are intimidating parts of everything we write. Those scenes that you want to revise and make better, that you're just itching to unravel - but you remember the mountains you climbed to pull that idea from you head in the first place, and wonder if it will stay intact once you start making it better.
And so, while I bravely plunged into my manuscript with sword and shield in hand, I had some moments where my attitude was more like...
... and I'm pretty sure that's normal. Going slow, and taking these scenes piece my piece, usually helps me. If you poke a hole, ignore the whizzing sound of the air rushing loose, or plug it up temporarily with a giant I Shall Return note in the margins. Or highlight. I love highlighting. Listening to perfection in the form of movie soundtracks doesn't hurt either (if you peeked at my Twitter feed this weekend, you knew I was half-bawling, half smiling while revising to A Little Princess and The Secret Garden soundtracks).
I've got a few more matters to attend to before turning in my first round of revisions *snaps on surgical gloves*
When the headaches subside and the night wraps stars around my house, I recover a sense of adventure and revise.
