Oh happy, happy, happy day. Made it all the way through the book with my revision.
I’m still alive.
I cried as I read the last couple of chapters.
Because the story was sad, not because I hated it so much. Which is cool, because just last week I was saying I wished all my characters would just curse God and die.
Now I have to read the whole thing through to see if the changes make sense, and to see if the characters’ motivations work, and to see if the book is better for the revisions or worse.
And I have to pretty up the scenes I just roughed in yesterday and today. One of them was so hard it took a great force of will to just keep putting down one sentence after another. I’m sure it’s ugly stuff. But it will give me something to work with.
And it’s done.
At least for the time being.
And that is such a great thing.
Next, after I give it a spit-shine, I’ll have to see what the agent says and what the crit partners say. My mom is reading it right now on my Kindle. I love having her read it over and over because she always forgets the story within a week (she’s 88), so I’m always getting a fresh response from her.
She told me tonight, “You are changing so much—” yes, she’s been listening to me moan and complain for the last two weeks, “—that I think I’ll just forget everything I know about the characters and read the book as if I’m meeting brand new people.”
And I’m thinking, “Good one, Mom. Pretend that the reason you don’t recognize the characters is that I changed them so much.”
But I do so much appreciate her reads. She is actually a very good reader and can tell me where she’s bothered by stuff and why. it’s quite helpful.
Now, I’m off to watch a movie and veg my brain for several hours on mindless entertainment.
