Fear and Success and Keeping On…

I promised myself that there would be NO MORE BLOGGING—or Tweeting or random researching, or any of the other ways I distract myself and procrastinate—until I began the much-dreaded rewrite of my latest YA, VOICE.

  I usually love to rewrite, but this round has been unexpectedly difficult to begin. Why, you ask? For an unanticipated reason: an editor or two actually LIKE the manuscript.

Intellectually, I know this is a Very Good Thing. The problem is that now it’s up to me to sift through advice and suggestions, dive back into the story, and turn around a rewrite that WOWs…and that’s a little scary. I’m close, but I’ve been this close before. I’m afraid I’ll screw it up.

I think my inner 6-year-old is holding onto the logic that, if I don’t ever turn in the rewrite, I can’t possibly fail. It’s the same logic that keeps writers from submitting manuscripts, because that which is not submitted can never be rejected, right? Surely I’m not the only writer to struggle with gut-level illogic?

I know, I know: the solution to this problem is to trick my subconscious into moving on, which is what I’ve been working on this week. I’ve made enough progress that I’m allowed to blog again and maybe even write a Tweet or two.

If I’m a good girl and keep on writing that story!!

:) Cheryl