Suck it up
In high school I ran cross-country and track. I remember liking all of my coaches, but there were a couple I truly loved. Coach Edwards instantly comes to mind. Every day after school, Coach Edwards met us on the track wearing a royal-blue windbreaker and too-short shorts (no offense, Coach). My teammates and I never knew what Coach had in store. Sometimes he'd send us on a relatively easy eight-mile run. Other times, he'd take us to one of a handful of viaducts in town and make us run hills. (Yes, in Nebraska, the hills are man-made.) My least favorite practices were when Coach made us run ladders, otherwise known as interval training. Ladders were, by far, the hardest part of our training.
Halfway through a ladder workout, I was sucking air, red in the face, and my thoughts turned negative. The mere idea of sprinting another 400 meters had the power to break me. At this point, the lowest of all, Coach gave us a pep talk. His pep talks were always the same and consisted of three words. Suck. It. Up.
He didn't say it in a demeaning voice. Rather, he said it with encouragement. Suck it up. Do what needs to be done. This is where runners are separated from champions.
Even though I think he'd be surprised to hear it, I've applied Coach's advice to several areas of my life over the years. Most recently, I've applied it to writing. Just like I used to show up at track practice with no idea what was in store, I often sit down at my computer with no idea what kind of writing day I'll have. Some days are easy, and the words flow. Some days I run into brick wall after brick wall. Some days I feel utterly overwhelmed and wonder if I'm really meant to write.
For me, the most overwhelming day of the year is always that very first day when the Editorial Letter arrives. Editorial letters can be anywhere from one page in length to twenty. Maybe even more. The letter comes directly from the editor and its purpose is to give the author a blueprint for revisions. But the day I receive the letter, that's not what I see. I see page after page detailing every last thing that is wrong with my novel. The letter screams, YOUR NOVEL SUCKS!
I remember when HUSH, HUSH's editorial letter arrived. I believe it was about four pages long. The edits took three grueling weeks to complete. I was shocked by the amount of scenes my editor wanted me to either tweak, rewrite or cut. I truly believed she was asking me to edit the story beyond recognition.
Fast forward to CRESCENDO. I didn't exactly receive an editorial letter with this book. Instead, my editor Skyped me, and we talked for hours. In retrospect, I think there was so much wrong with the story, it was easier to hash it out face-to-face rather than put it down on paper. Likely, the letter itself would have been longer than the book! By the end of the Skype call, I had scribbled pages of notes. Change entire mystery thread. Change identity of villain. Create rift between character A and character B. Character C needs a boyfriend. Drop this whole plot thread. Ax this scene. Need more tension here. I sobbed. Instead of a quick three-week edit, I spent months rewriting CRESCENDO. And every day of every one of those months I gave myself a pep talk.
Suck it up.
Now I'm anxiously awaiting my editorial letter for SILENCE. Interestingly enough, I'm not as apprehensive as maybe I should be. I feel like I learned a lot during the editing of CRESCENDO, and even though I never thought I'd say this, I'm glad I had to go through it. It made me improve, as work always does. And I'm determined not to make the same mistakes again, ha!
I know a good portion of my blog readers are also writers, so in the spirit of Coach Edwards, no matter where you stand with your current manuscript, SUCK IT UP. And I mean that with buckets of love and encouragement. Most of all, I mean it for myself.
For more of my thoughts on editorial letters, go here.