Above All, Be Professional

I'm hard at work on the revisions for my "revise & resubmit" request from a FABULOUS editor. I started at the weekend and got so excited. I emailed the editor and told her I was working on it and would send it to her by the 1st week in August at the latest. On Monday morning, bright and early, I got a response from her answering the question I had asked and also saying she was looking forward to reading the revised version. I worked hard on Monday, and part of Tuesday and THEN....

Panic entered. I had added 2500 words, but I suddenly realized that adding the necessary 15,000 words would be a much bigger undertaking than I'd first realized. (word count requirement went up within the year my full was on the desk.) Suddenly I knew my precious story would have to change A LOT.

I whined, panicked and begged on twitter for some pep talks. I wondered what made me think I could pull this off. I played on the computer and stopped writing for the day. Then, as I got ready for my local writers' meeting, I started getting snippets of ideas for the changes I'd have to make. And through the lovely pep talks I got, I came to a HUGE conclusion.

I'm a professional. I've always prided myself on being professional when dealing with my writing world. I don't bad-mouth people in public ever and I don't whine...too much. But, the reality is revising is part of the job. Taking what I love about this story and pulling it apart to make it even better is necessary. This editor working with me has GREAT insight and I need to trust her. If I feel like I can't do it, so what? I KNOW I can. It is, after all, my job. And it's the job I want to eventually have full-time so I need to quit bitchin', pull up my big girl pants and deal.