Yes! I finally completed the last bits of my manuscript revision, and I have to say, I am so much happier with the final product. So here I go again, pounding the virtual pavement to try to find agents and publishers who like it as much as I do.

I will now settle back into the familiar grind of researching agents and publishers, tailoring queries and proposals and synopses and sample chapters to their every whim, putting together book packages, and waiting, waiting, waiting. (Tom Petty was so right.)

Yes, it is so satisfying to be able to move on to the next steps. But the best thing about finishing this revision–which, although it was sorely needed, was a real grind–is that now I will actually be able to step out of Revision Land and return to the place I really love: Creation Land.

I’ve been sitting on five chapters of my next manuscript for months now, and between my homework for my classes, the revision, and other freelance projects that came up along the way, I haven’t written a single new word for it. Not one! Horrible, I know. I think my daughter (who has graciously volunteered to be my guinea pig–I mean First Reader) has given up on ever seeing another chapter.

But I have spring in my veins now, and that always gives me such a tremendous boost–I feel like I’ve been launched out of a cannon (which is why I was able to wrap that revision up yesterday).  Today, I will dust off that new manuscript file, give it a little bit of a polish and shine, and start building the rest of it, one squeaky page at a time.

Remember my last post about windows and doors? Found one…