For the past two weeks, I’ve been working on my “tightening up” pass, rereading every chapter closely and snipping away excessive details and commentary. I’ve reduced my novel so far by 5,223 words, with only four more chapters left for this pass.

Next week, I’ll go through the Novel Editing Workbook, which has an excellent checklist for microediting. Then, I’ll run my book through ProWriting Aid and see what suggestions it makes, paying close attention to my syntax. (My editor thinks my sentences need a little more variety.) Once I’m done with ProWriting Aid, I’ll reread the memo from my editor to make sure I didn’t miss anything big, and then I’ll take a break.

After a break of at least two weeks, I’ll reread the manuscript aloud, do some final proofreading, format, design a cover, and then phew, it’s time to publish.

This is going to take time but IT IS SO TEMPTING TO RUSH THESE FINAL STAGES OF REVISIONS. I started the first draft of this novel in July 2022 and thought I’d be done by now, but the 2022-23 school year kicked my ass and sucked up a lot of my writing time. After spending so much time in the hospital after my dad’s emergency brain surgery last February, I’m proud of myself for getting this far. Still, I’d love to publish my second novel, Once Upon An Anxious Mom, before the end of 2023.

But am I rushing myself? Or am I just cracking the whip to keep up motivation and momentum because I know there’s only so much time and energy I can invest in a novel?

if I finish my ProWriting Aid pass by October 15, I can take a break for three weeks and return to work on November 6 (after my personal motherhood Olympics of Halloween, Julian’s 8th birthday, and the school carnival). Then I can finish proofreading the manuscript by December 10 and have it published by December 15. This would be an ideal timetable, because then I can go on a nice long break for the Christmas holiday and after the kids go back to school, I can either record my first audiobook or write the first draft of my third novel.

But I don’t want to rush just for the satisfaction of hitting publish and sharing the news on social media. And I have to remember my buffer! Shit happens. The kids will get sick at some point. I’ll get sick. If I impose an artificial deadline for publishing this novel by December 15, I’ll drive myself bat shit crazy.

Yet the temptation is so strong to push through and be done.

I’m going to have to pay attention the next few months and balance my desire to FINISH THIS BOOK ALREADY with the realities of motherhood. As eager as I am to be done, I don’t want to publish a book that I’d only give a B+.