The most blissful ten minutes in my life as a writer,
usually happens after I hit “send” on my most recent revision.
There’s relief – yay!
That much closer to making the book the best it can be!
And dancing…because, why not?
And general whooping it up because it feels so wonderful to
be finished with something!
It’s that pesky eleven minute mark when I realize that
there’s more work to be done and start wondering if my editor will enjoy the
changes I’ve made or if the sections I thought were funny will even garner a
giggle.
In short, it’s when I return to
being slightly neurotic. But before I go back to dig in once again, I usually
have a little celebratory downtime. And here's what I like to do:
Binge on DVR’d TV
and movies
After working so hard my brain needs candy. I’m finally
caught up with The Originals and Reign.
Still working on Revenge!! And in
the span of three days watched Authors Anonymous, The Perks of Being A
Wallflower and Maleficent.
Tackle my TBR pile
Ah, give me a free weekend and a pile of books and that
equals bliss.
Answering Email
Receiving email from readers is one of the highlights of my
job but I can’t always get to them in a timely manner – especially during
revision, where I pretty much put blinders on and tune out everything. I put as much thought into my responses as I do
into my novels. So if you’ve written to
me and haven’t heard anything yet – please be patient - you will soon. Promise!!
One day as I was writing I took a moment to really feel my
posture…I was sort of hunched over, shoulders forward, arm at an odd angle,
clicking the mouse and slouched in my office chair. Writing may not be particularly physical but
it can certainly wreak havoc with your physical being if you’re not
careful. So…a massage may seem like
pampering – and okay, it is to a certain extent – but I’ve found them to be a
necessity. It’s also usually my reward
for revision. That and shoes. Oh, and
mani-pedis, but I don’t think that would count as a tax write off.
Fun writing
First drafts are not my favorite. Nope.
And I have a hard time switching gears between revising and drafting. So mostly when I’m in this kind of limbo of
waiting for edit notes, I write scenes from other stories that have been
haunting me, or try and sketch an outline for a new project. Or write blog posts.
All of this serves to fill up the well, so that when I do go
back to my recently revised manuscript, I can do it with fresh eyes and a relaxed mind. What do you like to do?
