Time to get Chopping

It's about time.

I've been waiting patiently for a few weeks now.

I haven't talked about it. Much. Or thought about it. Much. And I certainly haven't read any of it. Much.

The rough draft.

The really, really, really rough draft of my first novel.

I've tried to lay it aside, so that I can look over it with fresh eyes. Editor eyes. Hopefully. It's printed out and sitting in a binder next to my bed. Waiting for the red pen of death.

I'm simultaneously looking forward to, and dreading the first read through. I don't want to read back over my story and tell myself, "This is crap." "This is crap." "This is crap." Who wants to hear that?

And what if I get done with my revisions, my many, many revisions, and no one likes it? What if it really IS crap? What if all I can do is crap? What if I'm just destined to be a crappy writer? What happens then?

Breathe...breathe...it's going to be all right.

Sheesh. I was really having a moment there. Okay. I think I'm done now.

So, now that I'm calm, here's the plan:
1. Don't worry that it's crappy. All writers start with crap.
2. Go through each revision with one or two purposes in mind. Don't try to fix theme, foreshadowing, grammar, punctuation, added scenes, cut scenes, additional details, all in one fell swoop. Pick a couple of things to look for first, and then go through and make changes as needed. Then go back through a second time.
3. Rinse, and repeat.
4. Don't panic.