Saturday, March 29, 2008

Slow and Steady Pressure

Writing is like First Aid. To survive, you have to apply 'slow and steady pressure.'
I'm 40 pages from the end of a 9th draft.
I've hired an editor.
I will sign a contract with said editor.
Then I will pay the editor first half of money for said contract.
I will wait until editor is done in 2 weeks.
Patient. Yes, I'll wait patiently because that's part of my mantra: slow and steady pressure.
Then I'll have to see what she says.

In the mean time, I'm editing about 20 pages a day.
Reading the books that I'm logging at LibraryThing (2 so far, but that's a start).

And I'm journaling and thinking about other projects, mainly the one I start after this one, which I want to have ready by SCBWI's summer conference.

In addition to being like First Aid, writing this book has been like archaelogy. You know where they brush away layers of a great find. Well this draft has been kind of fun because I've changed almost something in every sentence. I thought I was done, but I've discovered all these tiny changes that just had to be made. I haven't felt this confident in a long time and it's a great feeling.