Phew! I finally handed my novel in to my agent on Friday! Hurray!
God knows if its good enough - I suspect there may be more work to be done - but after 5 (count 'em) redrafts, I was starting to see double and finding it hard to care anymore... I was just so desperate to get rid of the thing!
The rewrite was the hardest thing I've ever done. It was actually painful. For my brain. For my stressed-out body and for my poor husband, who started to think he was married to a laptop.
The hardest thing? When to stop. It was never going to perfect - but when would it be good enough? My teacher said keep going till you're happy with it. But I felt like I might go on fiddling forever.
By Friday, I reached a point when I felt like I was doing more harm than good - there's only so much you can cut and tweak something before it gets painful.
Who knows what my agent will make of it. He signed me up on basis of 15 chapters out of 7o! But even if it's crap at least I've done it. Stuck at it. A lot of people want to write a book. Few start. Even fewer finish, and fewer still get up pre-dawn and sit up past midnight polishing the thing into oblivion.
Keep telling yourself that, Jude.
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9 comments:
Many, many congrats Jude. You've worked incredibly hard. FIVE rewrites?! WOW. I'm struggling with one. I know what you mean about it being the hardest thing ever - I'm emotionally and mentally exhausted from rewriting my novel and it's only been a month so far! I'm sure your agent will LOVE it and I really look forward to reading a blog post saying he's got the publishers into a bidding war for it :o) I hope you're relaxing/celebrating now after all your hard work.
Wow, Jude. Really well done - that's most impressive. I am struggling with the 'even fewer finish' so I'm going to crank it up and get going again. Thanks for the inspiration.
I look forward to hearing how you get on.
JJx
Well done, Jude! You are an inspiration to those of us who can't seem to get it together. I feel like I've been working on my novel forever and the more work I do, the further I am from finished. I shall read this post when I feel discouraged.
Oh well done! Cripes you've worked hard. I'm struggling with the first rewrite so thanks for the inspiration and now go and take a break and indulge a little. You're still a newly wed you know:-)
Well done Jude that's fantastic, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!
Well done! Fingers crossed for you :-)
Better late than never: congratulations! Am about to start my own fifth redraft, so it's pleasing to think that could be the magic number. I hope your agent loves it.
Well done! Hope the agent gets back to you soon with good news!
Happiness in the present is only shattered by comparison with the past.
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bingo
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