Merry Christmas To Me! (Revisions!)
So funny that I happened to do a post on revisions right before receiving a fresh new set of my own! I felt immediately compelled to come to my own web site for a reminder of why revisions are good. 🙂
Christmas Eve morning the revisions for my second submission to M&B landed in my inbox. Thankfully, my lovely editor is more than willing to talk with me, either through email or on the phone after the Christmas Holiday, so that was a major relief.
As I’ve mentioned, it’s definitely a good thing to let the revisions settle in for a bit before diving into them, but for me, that’s easier said than done. So, with my husband and kids still in bed, I drove across the street (head hanging out the window so I could see since I didn’t wait for my windows to defrost!) and went to my parent’s house for coffee.
And they, kindly, let me bounce inane idea after crazier idea off of them for the next hour or so. Then my mom and I baked pies and did the bulk of our Christmas prep work while I ran back and forth from the stove to my laptop taking down notes (if you can call my half-formed ramblings anything so sophisticated as ‘notes’)
I admit, I was feeling a bit panicky. Again, I agreed with the revisions and reservations my editor had, but there’s that moment where you have no idea how to fix it that feels a little bit like it might if you jumped out of plane and realized you weren’t quite sure where the ripcord for your shoot was. Yeah, a little bit like that.
But after a couple hours of baking, frantic emails to my crit group, more baking, and more general nail biting, I did start to have some ideas. And with ideas came a return of my sanity!
Christmas I really did manage to let it all go and just enjoy my kids opening their gifts (and I enjoyed the heck out of my gifts!) and today I was back to work. That old excitement is starting to return, along with all the second guessing and insecurity that seems to be so common to us author types!
It is exciting though to be going on this journey with a new MS. I know in the end it’s going to be better and those moments of panic as I rolled out pie crust will seem silly.
So I shall humbly continue to be your revision expert and commiserater. 🙂
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Hey, I know those feelings. When you can’t see any solution and you just want to throw your hands in the air and scream, “I can’t do it!”. Or maybe that’s just me. 😉 Anyway, the best part is finding the solution and knowing how great it’s going to make the story.
Good luck, Maisey. You can do it!
Thanks, Jackie! I’m starting to feel much more optimistic. Just moved into chapter two and things are getting sexy…that ALWAYS puts me in a happy mood.
Go the sexy! Actually, mine get a bit like that in chapter 3 which is a GREAT thing in my book. They were far too staid in the first draft 😉
Good luck on those revisions Maisey. It’s amazing – I find when I first see a revision letter, I think – wow that’s not that bad. Then I think about it for a day and go into meltdown. LOL!
See, I have the opposite reaction, Rach. Right at first I feel like my face is melting and it’s impossible and I’ll never get it right and then my thoughts start to calm down and gain some order.
Good to know even you have ‘oh no my face is melting’ response Maisey, I had that after realising that the rejection was a call for revision, swiftly followed by the ‘I’m not good enough’ mini angst. Now having kicked myself up the butt (not easy.. jeans too tight after too many mince pies) I’m clenching my jaw and getting on with it. Go me!
Hope these revisions are going well, despite crazy holiday timing. Have a great New Year!
J.