Iâm going to be honest. Iâm sick of reading my book.
That probably doesnât sound like a ringing endorsement for FLASHFALL, but thatâs just where Iâm at this stage of the editing process, now that Iâve read it eighteen million-billion times.
People suggest taking a break, and coming back to your manuscript with âfresh eyes.â I had a four-month break while waiting for my second round revision notes. Two weeks into editing, and my brainâs pretty much âwhat even are these words?â
Revision Fatigue has set in. So I break the edits down onto sticky notes, put them on my board beside my laptop, and tackle them a scene at a time. Between that, I take Emmy for walks and drink copious amounts of coffee. I wear my Gryffindor socks (because magic) and my t-shirt that says, I Can and I Will (because cozy encouragement t-shirts help, too.)
Still. As much as I whittle away my edits into a mountain of sticky-notes, another voice rises up, louder than my writerâs voice.
This is crap. This plot has too many holes. That doesnât make sense. Thatâs clichĂ©.
The voice of the Doubt Monster.
If youâve ever written a book, or undertaken a creative endeavor, youâve probably encountered your own.
So what can we do to battle the doubt? Here are a few things that help me:
- Get outside your own head. Sometimes, we are too close to the story to see when a characterâs motivations are unclear or a plot development doesnât make sense. Beta readers and critique partners are essential. Open yourself up to other peopleâs feedback. If youâre re-working a scene, and feel like itâs not workingârun it by a couple (trusted) people. They can help re-assure you or re-direct you. By the time youâve revised your manuscript that many times, it can be hard to see it objectively.
- Trust the process. Itâs normal to weary of reading your book. That doesnât mean itâs badâit just means youâve grown numb to all the discoveries that make books interesting. Also, by the time we get to multiple rounds of edits, weâre viewing our writing through hyper-critical lenses, focusing on the âproblemsâ. Reading from that place is never fun.
- Commiserate with other writers. The authors in my debut group (The Sweet Sixteens) have gone through similar feelings, and just reading about their experiences makes me feel better. I love connecting with other writers on Twitter, too, and being able to share the challenges of writing and editing. So many times, they have great insights and perspectives to share. Itâs reassuring, therapeutic, and usually enough to squash the doubt monster.
- Trick your brain. There have been studies that show how our brains âseeâ printed and computer text differently. If your words are starting to blur together, print out your manuscript and work from the hard copy for bit. This helps me enormouslyâespecially when Iâm working through any big revisions. The other thing that helps me is a change of scenery. Try writing outside, or go to a coffee shop. Sometimes we just need to shake up our routine to get our focus back.
- Trust yourself. This is vital, because the best writing happens when we write from a place of confidence. Something inspired you to begin this journeyâand the heart of that story is still there. Donât get so caught up in the âproblemsâ you are fixing, that you lose sight of what the storyâs about.
- Take a moment. Take a day. On a fresh page, write something entirely new. Or, approach a scene youâre revising from a new angle. Throw off all constraints and allow yourself to exercise and re-charge the artist part of your writer self. This is what I do when I stall out in my writing, (staring at blank walls, anyone?) or if my writing becomes stale and the characters or dialogue flat. It seems counter-productive to âgetting the revisions doneââespecially when youâre on deadline, but these moments have actually led to some of my strongest scenes in FLASHFALL.
- Donât be afraid to break it. Embrace the act of revision as an opportunity to re-envision a scene, character, or plot point. Sometimes we hold on so tightly to what weâve written, that we donât allow for the possibility of what something can be. For more about this, check out my post on Publishing Hub.
Believe that you are capable of writing and re-writing your book to its fullest potential. Itâs normal for the Doubt Monster to visit from time to time. Just donât let it stay.
Keep writing. Keep revising. Youâve got this!
If you have any suggestions of your own, please post them in the comments! (Or tweet them at me: ) How do you overcome doubt? What helps you avoid ‘zombie brain’ when you’re revising? Please share!
For more, here’s a peek at my revision process: