A huge sigh of relief

For the last year I have been editing, editing, and editing my recent fantasy novel. I have done many revisions on this novel. Some focused just on descriptions, characters, others on the overall plot. Last night, I finally finished the line editing type revisions. Here, I focused on grammar, spelling, that sort of mind numbing thing.

It has been SO painful. This is the moment when you ask yourself  WHAT WAS I THINKING WRITING A NOVEL OVER 100,000 WORDS?  I still don’t have a clue. This beast is so long, even after I cut 8000 words.

I am madly in love with it, though. Last night, as I was editing through the last few chapters of the book, I kept saying to my husband… “Oh man, this is so good.” Of course that was when he says, “you can’t say your own novel is good.” I informed him that he was right. “My novel isn’t just good, it’s amazing!” He rolled his eyes and got back to work emails.

The truth is, you had better think your work is amazing otherwise you are wasting your time. How can you sell your book to an agent, publishing house, reader, if you don’t 100% love what you have written? You can’t.  So I am putting it out there. I love my stories. I love my characters, even the evil ones, especially the evil ones, and I love that creative part of me that sees stories everywhere around me.So, today, following my latest, and hopefully last major revision for a while, I am celebrating. Pita Jungle is involved because it wouldn’t be a celebration without pitas and hummus. And a little Sweet Tooth Fairy. They have these cake balls that are to die for.

I am going to kick up my heels, maybe even watch a good flick, and most likely have a smile plastered across my face for the rest of my day.  Because, let’s be honest, I love what I do.