Happy Insecure Writer's Support Group everyone! And thanks again to Alex for creating this wonderful group and thank to Stephen
Tremp and Julie Flanders for helping to host it this month!
I recently read a very fun blog post on revisions by the Deadline Dames. They list the five steps of revisions from dread to relief. Go ahead and click the link to read them all.
I am currently at the dread stage, waiting to get my revisions from my editor and imagining all the things she's going to hate. Imagining her sitting at her desk wondering to herself, "What was I thinking. This stinks!"
Now I've only gone through this one other time, with a short story, and that time I did not enter the stage the Dames listed as Denial. I kind of stayed in Panic. As in "Oh dear lord I can't do this what on earth made me think I could write?!"
So yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to right now. :)
I hope everyone is having a good week! Stop by tomorrow for a post from the awesome Annalisa Crawford!
I hate the waiting - I hope you don't have to do it for too long. Just takes deep breaths and remember you're brilliant!
ReplyDeletePS. Thanks for the 'awesome' :-)
oh perfect timing for me to read this post. I just got a in depth critique back yesterday and yeah.... it's hard!
ReplyDeleteI recently had my first experience with "heavy" editing. I found myself getting extremely wound up with the beta-reader's comments, and felt like they hated it :( but the editor herself was an absolute doll, and I think I've already learned a couple of tips from her on how to improve my writing :)
ReplyDeleteThey forgot one step. Embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteEmbarrassed that you made/didn't catch such a stupid mistake. (Okay, every does it, and sometimes they are funny, but sometimes you hope the reader doesn't think you're dumb! :)
With any luck, you are harder on yourself then your editor will be. Just keep in mind...it is all in order to make your writing the best it can be!
ReplyDeleteAgree with Liza-- we tend to be hardest on ourselves. All the best to you in this process!
ReplyDeleteI love that list but I love what Suzi added: Embarrassed. That's kind of where I'm at right now.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, revisions. As it happens I only just landed in revision land myself... and I'm not enjoying it. So yeah, it's Dread for me.
ReplyDeleteRevisions are dreaded but necessary.
ReplyDeleteI have a love/hate thing with revisions. And I love the Deadline Dames' post, thanks for sharing! Best of luck to you on our revisions. Someone recently told me, have fun & see them as a challenge.
ReplyDeleteMy best to you while you are revising. :)
ReplyDeleteWe are on the same wave-length again today Rach. I'm feeling real insecure about my revisions too. And there not going to an editor- oy.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Let me know if I can be of help at all. Whatever you need, you've got it-
That dread stage doesn't sound fun at all. Crossing my fingers that you reach the acceptance stage sooner rather than later!
ReplyDeleteJust tell yourself that if you couldn't write nobody would be asking for revisions. Tell yourself that as you open a bottle of wine.
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny. I opened my first edit and I about cried. All I could think was, seriously, why did they buy this!?
ReplyDeleteHow bad could it be?
ReplyDeleteGo write something else while you are waiting to take your mind off of it.
Oh, but the editor is going to say good things too, surely! At least you can look forward to that.
ReplyDeleteAllison (Geek Banter)
Waiting is the worst, but I agree with Allison above me - your editor will have great things to say!
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ReplyDeleteI'm just about to begin revisions, so five stages here I come! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm at the waiting too. I'm waiting for hear back from my lovely CP's and no one else has read the book other than me. What if it is awful?
ReplyDeleteGood luck with waiting! :)
I've been waiting for more than a year on my picture book....I keep hoping they'll remember me.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for my beta readers on Second Chances and looking forward to giving it a final polish. I vaccilate between hope and why did I ever think I could write.
Editing, and receiving feedback can be so painful. I've found it is always so worth it to listen, make changes, and see your novel grow. Good luck. I hope your editorial letter is manageable and ends up making your novel even better.
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