Wotcha Doin? REVISINGrevisingREVISING

I tried to post something intelligent today, but failed, so if you don't have a lot of time, skip to the links below. You have been warned.

I'm in revising hell. I know there are people who enjoy it, and I can tell why, I even feel some of that revelatory joy myself, when you chip away at something and, seemingly just like that, it becomes better.

Still. It's a massive pain. When I talked in an earlier post about my inner editor, I think I misspoke. I don't hate the inner editor, she's just doing her job. But letting the inner editor in let's the inner critic in and that just doesn't feel nice. She's the kind of frenemy who's in truth all enemy. Because every time I look at my book with a editor's eye, evil inner critic whispers, "Go, eat chocolate. Abandon this piece of nonsense. It's crap and you have carbs to eat." She's the voice I have to throttle, and I get tired of doing it. I DO it, because I won't give up, but man it gets tiring. That's why the blog posts, she don't come out so sparkly lately.

You know what is sparkly? These links:

Deana's Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest is really awesome and fun. I'm just sorry I couldn't participate in the story chain - click here to get a full list of what everyone is writing. A fun, inspiring exercise.

Harry Potter - Come Hell or High Revising Water, nothing shall keep me from my appointed task, which, at 12:02AM tomorrow morning will be to see HP7pt2. I'm going out to buy junior mints at the Target in a minute. What, if any, are your HP7pt2 plans?

Jenna Cooper had a lovely post a couple of days ago on growing up with the HP books. I didn't grow up with them, waiting for the next book to come out, believing that magic was real. My daughter, though into HP won't experience the full phenomena like Jenna did. It's a once in a lifetime thing.

Speaking of revising and getting help from my friends (which I wasn't but I was thinking about it, which is close enough), you should visit How Many Pages Did You Write Today on facebook. It's an awesome group, open and friendly and I posted a problem I was having there with my revising and in like a nano second I had responses - good, smart responses. You should totally check it out. The moderator is Ramona DeFelice Long, who I met at Pennwriters and is totally fabulous.

Being Stupid...On Purpose

So, I'm going to open myself up for criticism here. Some of  you guys might know that I've had a partial request (first 100 pages) for my book by an agent. Woot. I've been polishing and revising for three months since then and now, in the deadline I've created in my mind, I've got another month before I have to submit.

Why, when everyone, even the awesome and extremely published Jonathan Maberry, has told me not to submit until it's ready, am I going to risk it?

Well, one concrete and one ephemeral reason. And a caveat.

Caveat - The same way I believe I'm not short, I believe the book will be ready.

Concrete - the agent who requested my partial is closed to submissions until August 1st. On August 1st, the floodgates (again, in my imagination) will open and the slushpile will become slushier. I want to take advantage of being allowed to submit while she's on hiatus (a conference request).

Ephemeral - If I don't give myself a deadline - a real, on fire, deadline, I'll choke. I'll sputter and stop. I'll just sort of peter out. I am not one of those writers who feels they have to write or they will die. And I can easily see my life slipping into more practical, household concerns once my kids start school again. In fact, I'm afraid that will happen, unless I have that deadline.

So, I'm revising like a maniac. And I will (unless I change my mind, of course) be pushing the send button at the end of July.

Want to talk me out of it?

Oh, I'll be guest posting on Misha's Blog Sylmion on August 19th, so watch out for that.

I Just Have To Ask...Stupid Question

As part of Deana's Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest, I have to ask a question. This is hard for me. I'm by nature a lurker. I like to find my answers without raising my hand. There are countless times I've heard "There's no such thing as a stupid question," by a teacher or advisor only then to be given a look that clearly said, "oh, except that one." So before I ask my question about writing/publishing, I will give you a short list of stupid questions I've asked before:

From high school:
"Wait, how can these numbers be imaginary? Aren't all numbers imaginary?"

From art school:
"How do I paint the clear bottle in the still life? Is there, like, clear paint?" (I was only sort of joking.)

From child bearing:
"Ow. This does not BLEEPING tickle. Why did I do this?" It is a stupid question, when asked at the 40th week. The second time around.

On my daughter getting contacts:
"Wait, can she get these wet?" (in fairness, I think I meant, can she go swimming with them on?)

Now for my writing question:

How do you come to terms with your evil Inner Editor? I have read a lot about it and I've worked on it for a while. my IE usually strikes, not when I'm writing, but when I'm editing. And she's smart enough to get me when I'm vulnerable (um, all the time) like when reading about another author's amazing trajectory and fabulous project. In other words, as soon as Writer's Digest hits the mailbox, she sharpens her knives. So, any out of the ordinary ideas for dealing with the evil wench?

Gearing Up to Get an Agent -Blogfest

Just a reminder that Gearing Up To Get an Agent Blog O Rama starts with a mini blog-hop tomorrow. Head on over to Deana's blog to sign up. You just need sign up here and post on Wednesday (tomorrow) on "I Just Had to Ask" - that is, any wonderfully, stupid, obvious, deep, insightful, strange and/or interesting question you have on writing or publishing. Then you hop on over to the other players' blogs and try to help them answer their questions. Hopefully everyone gets some answers they can use.

That's it, simple, right?

Any good blogfests you're participating in this summer that I should know about? Do you love blogfests? Hate them? Wonder how useful they are?

I Don't Brake for Unicorns

Credit: People Mag

While I try to keep this fact hidden during job interviews, I'm not a perfectionist. In fact, I hate when people say they are (apologies if you are a perfectionist.) It's because I don't believe in perfection that I have a bone to pick with it. I believe in good, great, transcendental, adequate and wicked, among other adjectives, but not 'perfect'.

Perfect, like unicorns (again, sorry if you believe in unicorns), doesn't exist. I get the message, really I do, that aspiring to perfection, even knowing it's unattainable, is how you can get to the best you/your project can be.

But I think this is so misleading as to be criminal and, in my case, paralyzing. Also, I could see myself using the lack of perfection as an excuse not to submit just yet...wait one more day/week/lustrum.

When do you send in your manuscript if someone has requested it? When it's perfect.

Well, don't hold your breath, because mine's never getting to P-Land.

What I aspire to is completeness, trickier than waiting for unicorns, but infinitely more attainable. I believe that everything has a tipping point, a point where you stop having to create it because the darn thing is alive. Could you gild the lilly after it's complete? Absolutely. You can spend forever waiting for that sound of one hand clapping too, if you want.

While I haven't achieved this goal yet in writing, I have achieved it in other areas, so I have an idea what it feels like: A giddy, teenage feeling followed by serenity.

What do you think, does perfection exist? Do you seek it?