Friday 19 October 2012

Revisions!

Greetings from the kitchen Revision Cave!

And thank you so much for all the lovely supportive comments I've had on here and on Twitter following my recent conviction that I suck at writing. I feel particularly bad about said wallowing in the light of SYTYCW, since so many of the entries I read were fantastic - I have no idea how the judges manage to whittle them down to any kind of shortlist - and I know there are lots of people out there who have as their goal the very thing I have been whinging about.

I thought self-doubt would be something that would simply disappear after I got the magical validation that is the publishing contract, but have to admit I have struggled with this darned book 2 far more than I have with anything I ever wrote on the journey here. I knew the constant thought that 'this isn't as good/sparky/funny as book 1' was inhibiting me, but I couldn't seem to help myself dwelling on it.

I submitted revised Chapters 1-6 of the Date Pool plus new Chapters 7-9 at the end of last week, absolutely convinced that I would receive back the revisions from hell, and very possibly rewrites. And having bitten my nails all week, yesterday I got an email back from my lovely editor.

Yes there are revisions. Of course there are. But they are not the monstrous rewrites from hell that I thought they would be. And she counterbalanced them with lots of things that she likes and that I am doing right. (*fragile ego sighs with relief*) What I have overlooked in my self-criticism is that I am not floundering around on my own to make this story work - she wants it to work as much as I do. And she is a brilliant  source of ideas, plot tweaks and suggestions on how to deepen conflict and improve scenes I already have. As I prepare myself for a couple of weeks working through these revisions, I feel part of a team and I feel like I have a sense of perspective again.

I know there will likely be even more revisions down the line. But I feel like the ones I have are doable, I'm even excited about them because I can see already how they will make the story flow and work so much better. And so meltdown is over, for now.

Scuttling off now to the cave and I will keep you posted!

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you're feeling positive about the revisions. Good luck with getting them done on time!

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  2. Thanks so much, Tora. Will keep you posted. :0)

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