How I felt after my revision marathon
I just went 40 hours without sleep. Really. I was juggling picking out stock photos for a 5-book series and working with two different designers on two different series, while trying to finish revisions on book 2 of my billionaire romance series to get to the editor this weekend. Whew, that was a long sentence. About how those two days felt. Books won and sleep lost. But I got it all done. Expect some covers and books to blow up my feed in the next few weeks.
On an author’s page, someone asked on Facebook what our writing routine was. After my long recovery sleep last night, I am still feeling a little punchy, but this was my answer.
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I am feast or famine. I write my first draft super intensely for a few days, during which I usually stay in my jammies until the family comes home and I hurry jump in the shower before they can see me. I vaguely think I need to be somewhere, and look at my clear schedule with relief, but when a story seizes me I turn super-hermit like and don’t socialize unless I have to.
I subsist on Fritos Scoops and bean dip. 😀 I have been known to write all day and after dinner until my hubby gets up for work at six a.m. and then crash for a two-hour power nap (if I am lucky). I just get so anxious to get the story down. When the draft is done, I reward myself by weeding the garden. Seriously.
Then I let my story sit. After a few days, I print a hard copy and go back to it with fresh eyes and some courage. If I am lucky, I decide it’s not too bad but there is work ahead so I roll up my sleeves and dig in. I revise not as intensely as drafting, but I do try to keep the story in my head by just focusing on that. Sometimes it’s so discouraging, when I flip a page and there’s all these red markings, but I just suck it up until I get to The End. I wish I could say I am jumping up and down with joy by then but mostly just in my heart. I am just gosh dang exhausted-happy to be done.
After revision I ask for betas. Well, I used to send to betas, but with one recent one, I gave my revision straight to the editor, which was great because it fixed my plot more clearly than a beta might have.
I just finished a revision and sent it to the editor, and now I am gearing up to weed as soon as I get off Facebook. 🙂
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