The End

I finally got to the end of my draft.

Oddly enough, that sounds like more a milestone to nonwriters to than to writers. Nonwriters think it's a huge milestone. Writers nod, but know it's only an intermediate step. It's an end, but it's the beginning of revision.

This is only the second book I finished, and now, after congratulating myself nonwriter-style, I take a step firmly into the "writer" camp -- into Revisionland.

When a book crashes and burns, whether at the query, submission, or post-publication stage, the standard advice is to keep writing. Write something new. Writers write. Etc.

I didn't know if I could do that. I'm not one of those people with bottomless wells of resilience who keeps going against all odds.

Writing the second one makes me feel that I can really be a writer. Published or not, I don't want to be one of those people who only has one book in her. But more importantly, I decided to write another book after rejection. Maybe I have the stick-to-itiveness I'll need.

Now if I can just stick out the revision...