Git 'Er Done

I've never been much of a procrastinator. Back in school, I generally raced to get assignments done so that I could move on to more important things, like hang out and drink coffee with friends. I hated putting stuff off til the last minute and never, ever pulled an all-nighter to study or complete a paper. At any job I've ever had, if there's work to be done, I just get it done. End of story. I'd much rather be busy than sitting around twiddling my thumbs.

Let's be honest though. There are always those projects that I dread, that are mind-numbing or have no real deadline. Those are the ones I do, in fact, put off for a while.

So after another week off from In My Mind's Eye, last night I finally worked on revisions for over two hours. I just barely got through the first three chapters. And after looking back at some of my feedback, I realized there's still some more tweaking to do on those chapters. It's a much longer process than I ever dreamed it would be. As I mentioned before, I already completely changed the beginning, but last night I moved even a few more things around. I have a document started of the pieces I've been removing, and my original intention was to put those pieces back in somewhere else. Now I'm thinking the story might be ok without them. Ahhh, decisions.

I really, really want to get this completed and have the best manuscript I can possibly write in my paws before I start querying agents (and want this to happen by the end of January at the latest). I think I'm just starting to be afraid that I'll never be done revising, that there are always going to be more things I think I should change or move around. Like, when does it end? How will I know I'm really, truly done? Every time I think a chapter is complete, I decide to change it again. Is this going to happen with each and every chapter? Every time I open the story, I'm going to want to change more stuff?? Ugh. It's stressing me out just thinking about it.

I don't feel like I'm procrastinating about getting the revisions done, I just feel like I need more time to do them. Like, twelve straight hours of uninterrupted time to sit and read and fix things. And I will never get that much time all at once. Certainly not at this time of year.

But I know I'll get it done, eventually. Last night I was reading through my Twitter feed, and I follow a handful of YA authors. All of them seem to know each other. They respond to each other's tweets and offer encouragement and praise for each other's novels. I want to be a part of that community. More than anything I've ever wanted before.