How to Face the Revision Mountain

So, you've gotten to the end of your manuscript. You skip a few spaces, type, "The End," and now what? Do you send it off to a publisher immediately? Of course not. Chances are, your first draft is gonna be pretty awful. Which is why you need to revise.

Now, everybody tackles this differently. Some people revise as they go along, so they don't have to deal with a mountain of revision at the end of the book. This is fine, but I feel that revising as you write is like trying to do your homework while watching a movie. You'll get caught up in the story and won't be able to keep working on moving forward. You'll think you have to get it perfect before you can move on, and that narrow way of thinking can be very limiting. So instead, slap some words on the page and tell yourself, "maybe it isn't perfect, but I can always fix it later."

Now is later. 

So you look back through your manuscript, whether it's five pages or four hundred, and you think to yourself, "I have a mountain of work to do. How in the world will I be able to do it all?"

The answer is setting a daily goal to revise as much as you can comfortably manage. Just like with your word count goals, which are important, you'll set a goal to revise x number of pages. And you're going to revise said pages, day after day, until you look back and realize that you're at the top of your revision mountain, looking down at how far you've come. 

Your second draft will probably stink too. But it'll stink less. And You'll just keep revising until it emits a nice, pleasant aroma.