Tone. Revise. Tone.

One of my new things this year is to try (note the emphasis on try) to do regular exercise. I eat okay (cookies and chocolate are a food group, right?), but I figure toning the old butt wouldn't hurt, right?

Wrong. When you go from exercising four times a week to, um, not much, your body kind of wants to hit you over the head with hand weights. But we start slow. I mean, I'm not that insane I'd run a marathon after one training session. I'm pretty sure I'd fall over. Once, twice a week is a good base. Then three times, but you get the idea.

The point is, it's hard at first. There are moments when your abs are quivering from crunches. Your thighs can't take another climb on the elliptical. But you push through.

Where am I going with this?

Practice builds strength. You improve. Learning the moves makes your performance more efficient. That gives better results. It still hurts sometimes, but you can see the benefits. You keep going.

It's the same for revisions.

We all want a tight, toned manuscript. It's the aim of revision. We revise until our eyes bleed, shut the manuscript feeling mentally, physically and emotionally drained. We don't want to see the stupid thing again.

But we go back. Why? Because as much as it can hurt, it works. We work our base strength with plot, strengthen our core with by deleting passive writing. We get our cardio in on line edits.

After weeks/months of hard work, we sit back and see the benefits. A toned body and a toned MS? I can live with that.

So who's with me?

Shameless Lindsay post promotion time: Next week I have an awesome post -- an interview with the amazing Beth Revis. I'll also be giving away 2 copies of her brilliant debut novel, Across the Universe.