___ until you ___

Friends, it’s time for the final thing that you should be doing, as a writer. In a month full of dos and don’ts, this was the one that I deemed important enough to leave for last, that I thought would be the most fun to talk about in this, our last post of the month. (Yeah, yeah, I know there’s one more Monday in the month, but who wants to end a series on a Monday? Not me)

Anyway.

This is the topic that’s really been stuck in my head all month, as I’m deep in the throes of edits in more projects than I’ve ever had to work on at a single time before. I’m good at that, did I mention? But this is what’s stuck with me, after a full month of it.

Revise, Until You Can’t Stand It

And I don’t mean it's revisions that you can’t stand. I mean, revise until you know your manuscript inside out and upside down, until you know every single facet of every single thing, until you’re so weary of looking at these words that you really have to get someone else to look at them, because you can no longer tell what’s good and what isn’t.

Believe me, I know that feeling very well. As an author and an editor, I’m very well acquainted with it. Not that it’s my favorite feeling in the world, but I know what it means.

See, when you get to that point in writing your manuscript, in revising to the point that you’re pretty sure you know absolutely everything, that’s when you’re best able to ask for help—and that’s something all of us need to admit, whether we want to or not.

We can’t do this alone.

We need other authors to help keep us upright, because writing is a lot harder than people make it out to be.

We need friends to remind us that the whole world does not revolve around our writing.

We need editors to keep our work standing on its own legs, even after we’ve revised it so many times that we’re not entirely sure how it stands anymore.

We need others, around us, to make sure this thing gets a running start.

So friends, revise. Revise until you can’t stand it, until you have to fall back on someone else because you just can’t look at these words anymore. Do it one time, at the very least. Do it once, and you’ll know what it is to be helped by someone else. You’ll see what a lift it is, to hand your work off to someone else, for them to manhandle.

And you’ll feel an amazing sense of release, to know that you’re not the one doing it anymore. Because you’ve already done your part. You’ve revised and revised and revised, and now it’s someone else’s responsibility to put on the polish.

Know whose responsibility that is?

That’s right. Your editor.

Find one yet?

[love]

{Rani D.}