Surrendering to my process
Today I sent the latest revision of my book back to my agent. You may be thinking to yourself, “Clare, didn’t you JUST sign with your agent?” And yes, you would be correct. And she got me her edit letter way quicker than I was expecting. So I was able to dive into my revision only a few days after signing.
And turns out I revise super fast.
This may not always be the case, but up to this point, it is.
The first revision I did on this book May/June happened in just over a week.
The fairly major revision I did in Nov/Dec after a devastating rejection with some amazing feedback: 4 days.
This revision: 5 and a half days.
I have to sit with my ideas for a while, ask and answer some major questions, but then, once I have enough answers, it is all systems go!
A few important things to note: I neither have children, pets, nor a full time job right now. I do have an absolutely annoying chronic illness/disability, but I’ve mostly learned to work with that over the years. Kinda. Some days.
When I set out to revise this time, I promised myself I wouldn’t do it so quickly. I would take my time. I would rest and refuel between chapters/sections…nope. This whole revise in a matter of days in an absolute fugue state thing appears to be a feature, not a bug. It’s just how my energy, inspiration, and creative brain function best.
So I’m going to stop fighting it.
The plan going forward is to set up my time in such a way that I can disappear into a revision and resurface and rest when I’m done. I’m going to be open with my agent and beta readers about what to expect, but I’m not going to try to pretend that I’m working in a different way.
I share all this not to trigger any kind of comparison thinking. There is a lot about my current life circumstances that makes the privilege of surrendering to my own process possible.
I share this to remind you of the power of surrendering to your process and doing what you can to create a life that supports it.
That is not always going to be possible. There are very few people who have the ability to fully create their life around their ideal creative process. But if there’s something you have been resisting doing a certain way because of the opinions of others about it (or even your own opinion about it), this is your invitation to surrender!
When something works for you, it doesn’t have to work for anyone else. Other people don’t even really need to understand it. Your magic is yours. Sometimes it may resemble what other people identify as “the right way” to do something. But what matters is that it serves you.
Trust your magic. YOURS.