Where I'm At...Where I'm Going (an update on revisions)

Before I wake up to a crazy day (I'll be teaching my first Bodypump class) and hop on a ferry heading to the city, I had to be sure to get in a post. I'll be taking in lots of good info on graphic novels (Wednesday) at the SCBWI Western Washington events before rolling back to my home-sweet-home, sometime after midnight. Hopefully I'll come up for air on Thursday (but not before Office Hours and another Bodypump class). Whew!

What's in store for Thursday's Office Hours? I've been saying that I'd let you all know where I'm at in my process, so here goes...

So many of you gave me such nice, yet undeserved, kudos. Well, maybe not undeserved, but it's not like I'm done. Some days it feels as if I'll never be done. I've heard many of you express the same feeling. I'm currently living in Revision Infinity. (Ever visited? Ever leave?)

I did finish up my extensive revision, but because I NEVER let myself go back (at any point), I sort of made a revision mess. I have lots and lots of tidying up to do. The good thing? I kept track of my mess and kept a to-do list for the day I'd get to this very point. And, not long ago, I got great advise from Laini who suggested I put that to-do list on index card. Yes!

Here they are:

Oh, man. Don't know if you can see, but that's a huge pile (on the right). Forty-five cards to be exact. Told ya. Big, big mess. I'm definitely going have to tackle several cards a day if I'm going to get this manuscript out the door by the end of the month (the goal).

The itty-bitty pile on the right...well that's another bit I'm working on. It's a pile that should grow. This suggestion coming from the revision-smart Darcy Pattison (revised to work for moi). As I go back through this draft, I'm checking my sensory details, making note of what's already there and what I may not have already thought of. Those two cards (on the left) are from Chapter One, one for each scene. I think it will be useful and helpful, but really...

...I think I could be fooling myself about getting it done by the end of the month. And yet, I've always taken the philosophy that if I set my mind to it, I make it happen. I'll get it done. I will.