Deadlines and sheer panic

by Phil

My novel revision is going slowly. I’ve been working on it for weeks and nothing of significance has been resolved. The reasons for this are many, but they boil down to this: as long as I don’t finish this revision, I’m not going to let anyone read it. Then I don’t have to take the risk that people aren’t going to like it, that it’s horrible, and that I’m a horrible person for writing it.

This revision is also getting in the way of some other projects I’d like to tackle. I have at least three really interesting writing prospects rolling around in my brain right now, and I really want to start one soon. But the unfinished novel leaves me feeling guilty. How can I move on to something new, when this one isn’t even done? Not that it will ever be perfect done, but done enough for a second opinion at least.

I have decided to deal with this by putting a cliff to my back, and committing to no-compromise deadlines. At the end of this, I’m done with my novel revisions, and will be letting my wonderful wife read it. Here’s what I’m committing to:

Phase 2, major plot holes resolved, scenes deleted and added as needed – March 18 (that’s just over two weeks, ack!)
Phase 3, grammar, spelling, spit and polish revision completed phase 3 – April 1
Phase 4, novel revision complete – April 15

Right now, this seems like a lot of time, almost too much time. But I suspect that I will be in giant-anxiety-panic mode very shortly. I suspect this is the mode that will get my novel revision done in a timely manner.