Drowning in paper — that’s where I am now. And it feels great and scary at the same time. I’m sitting with my own revisions of my YA novel and the suggestions of my three readers. My sister Steph is a digital gal and so she’s made her suggested edits on an electronic draft via track changes. My two other readers both sat down with me and gave me notes — and their revisions are now on one master copy. The result is one big, messy — but immensely gratifying — pile of paper. I have a lot of work still ahead of me — that’s for sure!

Since I’m definitely a paper gal, I’ve just transferred Steph’s online changes onto my hard copy. So right now, my master working draft is peppered with handwritten notes and copy edits. I’m sure there’s a much more efficient way to do all this, but I have no idea what it is, so I’m going with my very low-tech revision strategy. If you have any tips for draft revision, please pass them on!

The bad news: There are changes to be made on almost every page! The good news is: I’m getting very close to pinning down my final submission draft. It’s so hard to look at everything objectively at this stage. I’m taking a lot of suggestions from my readers to heart and taking a pass on others. I just have to go with my gut when it comes to a lot of this. After all, I’m writing dangerously!

But here’s what’s thrilling: I feel my excitement building. After all this writing, rewriting, and editing, I’m almost there. I’m almost ready to step my little knight out in the world. I hear her whispering in my ear impatiently: “Ride, I want to ride!”