Motivation

I just picked up my mail and received my copy of “Keeping The Moon” by Sarah Dessen. Of course I’ve read it before, maybe twice, but somehow I don’t own it and I need to own all of Sarah Dessen’s books.

I will reread it on my Florida trip since I read “What Happened To Goodbye” last time and it was amazing to escape into. “Keeping The Moon” made me want to write when I first read it, and certain scenes have stuck with me for years.

I have been editing my book lately, working slowly and feeling daunted. I have always heard that revising is the hardest part of writing, and this is my Round One post-finishing “Into The Ocean.“

I have to format the book too, since it’s self-published. I made great progress the other day, coming up with the layout and the official title page, etc. and editing about three chapters.

I opened the document today… And I have 300 more pages to sift through and revise. Ugh. It takes a lot of self discipline and dedication- sometimes I just want to watch The Sopranos and play on Tumblr.

When I was writing the manuscript itself, I had one picture tacked onto my bulletin board that I would look at every time I didn’t think I could finish a page, a chapter, the whole damn book…

My mom took it at the Texas Book Fest in Austin last year (when I had brown hair!). Here is Sarah Dessen and me, smiling in a crowded auditorium room after a teen fiction lecture she had given with another author.

That’s the thing with the people you look up to most. When the going gets tough, you have to remember that they’ve DEFINITELY been where you are, and they’ve gotten through it with the grace and finesse that I can only hope to have one day.