Quick Thoughts About Long Revisons

I've been working on a major revision of Claire Morgane Almost Saves The World since August.  I finished the main part of the revision on last week and am now looping back through chapters to play with words. I need to read aloud and integrate reader feedback from the whole book.  But seriously? All that is play compared to the work just completed.

I can tell when I'm writing a serious revision because I keep hitting that point where I'm sure there's no way, ever, that I'm going to be able to pull off what I'm attempting.  And yet, I keep going.  And when it doesn't work that first time, I loop back and make it better.  And when that version doesn't quite work, I loop back and make it better.  And when that version is almost there, but not quite?  Yeah.  I loop back and make it better.

And when I end up with a copy that my readers race through for the thrill of the ride--and the ride doesn't go off the rails--that's pure joy.

I've written easier stories, but I'd rather write the difficult stories and make them look easy.

Over the course of this revision, I've written a few posts on my process:

The Craft of Writing:  Revision (December 14, 2011)

Raising The Stakes (September 21, 2011)

Approaching A Big Revision (August 24, 2011)

Leading up to this revision, I wrote these two:

When I Say I #amwriting. . . (July 27, 2011)

Tools For The Writing Process (June 1, 2011)

I also read this post by Mary Kohl, which I found incredibly validating: Big Revision.