I am still, unsurprisingly, deep in the land of revisions. It’s nice here. It’s kind of dark and confusing but there are surprises and caffeinated beverages and shiny new plot points. I should send out postcards that say Greetings From Revisionland.
But as lovely as this tropical revisionland vacation has been, I would kind of like to start wrapping things up. I’ve got the bulk of things organized and most of the additions written, it’s now a matter of finishing a couple of sections that need to be reworked and making some minor changes for consistency.
And I’d wanted to be done by now. And I’m not.
So, as much as they make whooshing sounds when they go by, I am in need of a deadline. So I’ve set one. No, I am not telling you when it is. But my beta readers have been informed and given permission to harass me if I miss it, which I won’t because now I have people holding me accountable and waiting to read on a specific date.
Plus, I have given myself a bribe. I decided I needed something a bit more worthwhile than cookies or a sense of accomplishment, so I came up with this:
This is a bottle of BPAL Creepy ’09. This is the scent of butterscotch-kissed, caramel-smothered red apples spiked with a blast of coconut rum. Those of you who have read previous versions of the novel know why this is such a perfect reward for finishing my revisions. Those of you who haven’t would probably not be surprised that there are caramel apples in a book about a circus. Unfortunately there is not a BPAL scent for chocolate mice.
I got it a few days ago and I haven’t so much as opened it for a sniff. It is sitting on my bookshelf (posing for photo with mini-jack-o’-lanterns from Pumpkin Hollow) and I am not allowed to open it or wear it until the revised manuscript is safely out with betas. So far my willpower has been impressive, though I’ve been a bit distracted by Boo (Eerie billows of spun sugar, fluttering white cotton, and sheets of cream).
So yeah. Greetings From Revisionland. Don’t really wish you were here because if you were I’d get even less work done.
2 Comments
Paul · September 24, 2009 at 12:08 pm
That’s a great bribe! And good luck with meeting your deadline. It sounds like you’re doing lots of useful things with the revisions – and it sounds fun, too, but yeah, you could probably keep revising forever, and at some point, you should just say that that’s it.
As for not opening Creepy, stay strong! 🙂
Steph · September 24, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Oh, what a wonderful bribe for yourself! You have such strength to keep from opening it – or eating it, it sounds so good!!
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