Wednesday, October 19, 2011

In which I ramble

This morning I woke up at 4:30. (I wasn't supposed to be up until 5, but the dog got a little antsy, so obviously I stayed in bed until 5 anyway.) Then, I threw on a jacket and some shoes and took my mom to the airport. I then returned home and slept until 10:30. It is now after noon. I have no idea how I have managed to spend the last hour and half, but I believe the internet is responsible. Oh well.

I was planning on doing some leisure reading today, and by that I mean reading an eARC for you guys, but I think I'm going to go ahead and start looking over the latest draft of TSA so I can get it to someone this weekend.

I am incredibly nervous about this. She has never read it before (I really wanted a fresh pair of eyes), and she is also one of my best and closest friends. I wanted her to read it, not because of these things, but because she devours books as much as I do, is an English major, and has a knack for grammar and honing in on things that don't work in books.

I am also incredibly nervous because this draft is much better than previous drafts. SO MUCH BETTER. And I am afraid that I will get it back and have to do major revisions. Not because I don't like edits or want it to be ready now (though I really do want to be finished with this), but because I am a perfectionist. I will repeatedly change words just to figure out which one I like best. And then change it again.

Sometimes I need outside opinions to okay things for me and justify working on a project because I can be incredibly critical of everything I do. Too much so sometimes. I am nervous because the perfectionist in me thinks there will be nothing good about this book; that I will never be through editing it; that it will never even make it to an agent's slush pile.

So this is me, getting ready to reread TSA for anything that stands out (including grammar) before I send it off to be picked apart. And don't worry, I don't use parentheses in the book. 

3 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Send it to her with confidence! What's the worst that can happen? I have three critique partners and two test readers for my work, and no one has slayed me yet.

Connie Keller said...

You can do it!

Either she'll say it's good to go or she'll find a way to help you grow as a writer. It's win-win either way. I'm sure your friend knows that great writers are born that way, we learn only through trial--error--and trial again.

Unknown said...

Alex, I am not a very confident person in general, but I'll try lol.

Connie, I know she will, but she's also my best friend and I have that 'what if she doesn't like it' fear going as well. :\ We shall see what happens!

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