Freedom, at last

Finally!

Oh, in the beginning they are such glorious beautiful little ideas.

In those first few months they blossom into wonderful drafts of prose and perfect wording and just the emotion you wanted to convey...

...Then the nightmare starts.

Oh, not full on.

This is the perfect kind of nightmare. It tricks you.

First revision is good, a little stressful, but good. You and the characters are still friends but there are definitely "those" looks transferred back and forth. The characters start whispering behind your back when they think you can't hear.

By the third revision the characters are in full striking mode and you are about to blow the whole manuscript up in a blaze of flaming glory.

"Bon fire!" you call to the night sky, with only the slightly nervous glances from your neighbors. Face it, only slight because they've learned to hear this occasionally from your backyard.

By the time editing starts you, the writer, snicker gleefully in the pending revenge on those beastly characters for what they put you through.

"Time has come my pretty little Damien babies," you whisper-borderline-hiss to the screen.

But even then they pull that trick out of their imaginary sleeves... doubt. Didn't that one single sentence sound better before the second revision? Or maybe because I can't find just the right word for this other sentence I need to revise the whole damn scene.

"No, no... don't go there, AR. Just don't."

Because if you fall back into that revision abyss you're never getting out.

Never.

Ever.

Ever.

But eventually you're past the third (or fourth) editing round and once again love your demon child, otherwise known as your current WIP. It is now a submittable manuscript for your publisher.

*enter ominous music right about here*

...until your house editor sends you their first-pass mark up...

"AHHHHH!"

But, for now I'm free of it. Lilly's Journey is off and I can live in denial that it's complete.

Don't break that bubble of delusion man, just don't.