Is revising worth it?

I was about 20 pages into the revision of my political memoir when I got edits back for one of my historical novels. I needed the diversion badly. I thought my memoir was already pretty clean, just a few tweaks for my beta readers, but each page had edit marks all over.

And then I read my editor comments and letter on the novel. The thought that came to mind was, “Why don’t I just start all over? It would probably be easier.”

Instead, I ate tons of imaginary chocolate, took a deep breath, and decided to re-read the edits another day, when I could look at the comments a little more objectively. Without crying. Without giving up and taking up an easier career, oh, like rocket scientist. Or professional basketball player. As a center. (I am 5’1”.)

Seriously, why does revising have to be so hard?

Maybe the question I need to ask myself is, is revising worth it? I would have to say yes, because:

1.     You’ve already put in so much work, what’s another few more hours to make your story the best it can be?
2.     It could be worse; you could be staring at a blank page.
3.     Or it could already be published, and the reviews are pointing out what your editor is telling you. At least you can still change it, and your rep isn’t shredded to pieces.
4.     You wrote your draft. Revised it. Revised it some more. And now you will revise it one more time. You’ve done it before, you can do it again.
5.     Just think back to how awful your first draft was. How wooden the characters were. Really, this is tons better. Just take it one more step.
6.     That bestseller on the shelf? It went through dozens of edits. And then more edits.

So take heart, all of you out there who are struggling through your revisions. It is worth it. The day you get through those revisions and put out your book baby into the world, let me know and we can celebrate together.

Tonight, I’ll pray for some divine help. Tomorrow, I’ll tackle my revisions. Wish me luck.

Jewel Allen is an award-winning journalist, author and memoir ghostwriter. Visit her at www.jewelallen.com.