It’s time to start - today I begin the first round of revisions on my manuscript. This is the first novel-length piece I’ve ever written that wasn’t posted online in chapters as it was written. That was both a challenge and a bonus:

The challenge came because in times past I found it hugely motivating to think know that people were waiting for my next chapter, to find out what happened next (guilt works well for me, apparently - maybe I need to find a way to feel guilty when I don’t want to get outside for some exercise); so not having those expectations on me made it easy to slack off for a couple days…weeks…the months of July and August (okay, now I feel guilty).

I found the bonus, though, when I was on a good writing flow and didn’t want to break my stride while I stopped to go look something up. I could highlight my text and leave myself a note to come back to that in revisions.

Anyway, it does feel like I have a great big job ahead of me, but it’s one I’m really looking forward to - not just re-reading from the beginning (which I’ve done a couple of times already) but also resolving all those little issues that have been nagging at me.

Ahem. I have an announcement to make. I just finished the first draft of the manuscript I’ve been working on for two years. TWO YEARS.

There were honestly times when I wondered if this day would come. And other times where I wondered if I would overshoot my goal of about 100K words to finish the story.

But I’m done, and I couldn’t have gotten much closer.

I am so happy, and somehow totally energized to begin the first round of revisions. :)

Thank you for your attention.

-Annie