A few weeks ago, my friend J.P. Barnaby shared this cartoon with me on Facebook and tagged me in it. Yes, I’m that blonde lady wanting her manuscript back for just one more read through.
It’s sort of an illness, I think. 😉 Perhaps not an illness, but it sure does slow down my submission speed, and all because I think that one more tweak of a word or phrase will solve everything.
Sometimes that’s true. I’ve improved some stories on that last read through or I’ve found a tiny plot hole I didn’t see before. The number of times that has happened compared to not is quite small though. It’s betas and editors who usually find those for me.
J.P. Barnaby has known me since I really started writing and she has seen me fret over little inconsequential things. It’s not good for the soul to seek the illusion of perfection because it allows doubt and insecurity to enter.
Just submit it needs to be my motto. A year more of editing is probably not going to make a manuscript perfect. I need to start having more faith that my raw writing is still pretty good. Maybe it’s even better than the grammared-to-death manuscripts. Who knows? I’ll have to try out my theory.
