coaching

On Christmas Eve, I was nestling into bed after a day of play and feasting. While shutting down my computer, I saw the email I’d been waiting weeks for.
My dear friend and editor David Hicks, true to his word, was delivering his comments on my novel before Christmas.

I eagerly opened the document. The copious line edits didn’t faze me – I welcome ways to make my prose sing. It was the comments that made this Christmas gift a combination of coal and gold.
In over 300 comments, David pointed out issues both nitty and gritty. Consistency issues, abandoned plot threads, and confusing red herrings were all highlighted.
I quickly shut the document down and ducked toward sleep. Yet the feeling of despair had rooted in, and I spent most of Christmas day in a state of numb weightiness.
Why is revision so difficult?
With every draft past say, draft twelve, I’ve asserted that this was the LAST ONE. With every draft, I was sure I had reached the limit of my persistence. With every draft, I’ve spent at least a year doing the work to make this book not only readable, but excellent.
With a June launch date and plans well under way to get this novel into the world, the last thing I wanted to face was another deep revision.
I spent the last week of 2011 getting my head around this. Trying to shed the weight of the impending work, I turned once again to my coaching skills.
Little problems and big decisions

The thought of hours of wading through David’s comments induced a strong desire to give up and flee. Bleak moments.
But I’ve been here before, and this time I noticed what was below the bleakness: irritation.
I was seeing every comment as a problem to fix. The more comments, the more problems. The more ways I had gotten it wrong and the more work I had to do.
This insight helped me deal with the work ahead. I don’t like problems. I don’t like when things break down or need tending to. Understanding this helped me get a grip.
But dispensing with the little problems, there were now the bigger issues of plot and character. Things I need to think about and change. Make decisions.
Voila two things that I don’t excel at – enjoying solving little problems and making decisions. I can do it, but I don’t like it.
It’s never been more clear to me that how we do something is as important as what we do. I couldn’t do this final revision with this weight on me.
What shifts perspective?
Two things work for me: both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Deadlines and meaning help me triumph over editing despair.
Deadlines   
The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest is here again. The deadline is January 23^rd. When I read David’s comments, I suspected I wouldn’t be able to finish the book until the end of February.
An January deadline is just crazy enough to jump-start my challenge value. Can she do it? is the guiding impulse here. I’m driven to expedite this revision, not just with speed but with accuracy – to write well and strongly.
An archetype saves me
Several times during the last week of 2011 the Chariot tarot card appeared for me. The Chariot archetype represents success and forward movement. Cheers to that – the novel moving on and into the world, and me with it.
But further study showed me that the Chariot also points us to manage emotions, using the fiery forces within to move forward, not get overwhelmed and stuck.
I need both of those concepts for myself – control over the emotional maelstrom in writing and a sense of forward movement.
Using this image and energy, I am driving toward a January 23^rd deadline. I work every day on the novel. I have accepted most of the line edits and am moving through the comments.
I feel a great sense of purpose and commitment, like I am riding that Chariot, and it’s taking me where I want to go. I relish this, because I earned it.
I am grateful to have found both a perspective and a process that will allow me to do this final, final, final revision.
I am more than halfway through draft 16. At this pace, I think I can make the January 23 deadline.
What about you?
What do you find most difficult about the revision process? 
What perspective and process will you choose to keep going?
Take a second and tell us works for you to keep going in your creative projects.