What’s the first thing I think of after I hear back from my agent or editor about my manuscript and there are suggested changes?
Oh god, I can’t face those pages again. I don’t want to, I whine.
Which is ridiculous because I love revising. Even more than writing the book in the first place. I get to dip in and change stuff, tinker with it, AND the structure is there already.
*At least there is structure in the things I write now because I have learned from past mistakes that an outline of some kind (either general or twenty-pages-in-depth) is a good idea. And also I have developed some instinctive sensitivity to my writing so that I know when the plot is not working a bit earlier than I used to. Within the first couple of chapters rather than at the end of 300 pages of book.*
Saves a heap of time!
However this is not about outlining (boring -IMO- yet necessary work) but about being lazy.
I still, all evidence and experience to the contrary, have this belief that the revised, polished, beta-vetted manuscript I send to my agent is good to go.
Or that the manuscript which has been further revised with him and then sent to an editor who buys it, is done. Completed. Finis.
And then the other half of my brain which is infinitely smarter than the gut-angst-driven side reminds me that even when the book is published it isn’t really done. There’s always something that could be refined or reworded.
Such is the writer’s lot.
But still it is a shock. And a bit depressing. The only cure for my innate laziness (and the depression) is to roll up my sleeves and start work on the revision.
It just takes a few days of mewling and pouting before I am ready to do so.
How about you? Do you dive in all glossy-eyed and tail-waggy? Ready to tackle your beloved manuscript for perhaps the 100th time (merely because someone tells you to do so) or do you hunch your way over to your desk, feet dragging, filled with all the moody belligerence of a three year old?
LAZY WRITERS UNITE!
Also, Jo, darling, love ya, but have pity on my poor eyes and tell me what it is you have against paragraph breaks?
Sorry Diana! I write my blogs over at my wordpress site and then copy and paste them here and for some reason all my paragraph breaks disappear. You will note that I have added them all in again and I vow to continue to do so in the future!!!!
PS- Glad you're lazy too. Wanna come over and watch movies and eat chocolates?
I did outline my proposed revision on a paper napkin today so have earned respite.
I love revising for the same reasons you listed. The hardest part is already done. Lazy is as lazy does! Or some sort of Forrest Gump remark. Either way, revising works for me.