My head is deep into the revisions of A Promise Kept. I’m loving the new layers I’ve been able to add, and I look forward to doing more of the same throughout the book.
I so appreciate the wonderful editor I’m working with on this novel. She’s a gem (we’ve done quite a few books together over the past 15 years). She’s able to help me see where a story can be improved while always allowing it to remain mine, to stay true to my vision. That’s the best kind of editor to have.
I have one writer friend who gets giddy with joy at the prospects of receiving her revision letter. Sorry. I’m not the same. Not even close. My first reaction to a revision letter is an overwhelming fear that I can’t do whatever the editor wants, that I will never have another good idea, that no matter what I try, it won’t be right or enough.
It usually takes me a day or two to work my way past all those negative feelings. Then I get busy and somehow the words begin to flow and the answers begin to come. Somehow the book gets revised.
How?
I don’t know. It’s a mystery.
Recognize the movie that’s from? Those words always make me smile because they are so true. How did I do it? How did I write another book? How did I get it revised? How did I make it turn out all right?
I don’t know. It’s a mystery.
~robin
Robin, from my understanding, that is how most artists feel. The ability just comes, naturally, as part of their makeup, and the doubts and concerns are the stopgaps that keep artists on the edge, honing and improving their craft. Here’s to the continued blessings of artistry, and acceptance of the struggle we must go through to produce it.
So true, Cecilia. I like the way you put it: “the stopgaps that keep artists on the edge.”