"Almost There"

These two words bring about contrasting emotions: hope and frustration.

Do you agree? If your agent writes back to you after almost a year of revisions and says something like, "I absolutely love it! Just a few more tweaks. We're almost there!" what would you be feeling?

First, I admit, comes a tad bit of frustration (at least for me). The whiny child within me wants to yell, "but I'm sooooo tired of rewriting this book! Wahhhhh...." (yeah, it's not pretty). What's also frustrating though is that I've reread and reworked the novel so much that I feel I'm going cross-eyed. I'm not catching tiny errors that I would have caught before. Or I left a sentence or two from a previous draft that doesn't make any sense because that scene has been taken out.

However, I am happy to say that I like hearing these two words. They mean that after a lot of work, it's about that time to send out to editors and see if I get any bites. It's another step closer to this dream of mine really happening. It's exciting and nerve-wracking, and well, hopeful.

Are you "almost there" with whatever you're working on? Maybe you're "almost" ready to send out queries, or you're "almost there" to the end of the story. Wherever you might be on this journey, don't discredit "almost there". Sure, it's frustrating, but focus on the hope of knowing that your goal is just around the corner!

Cheers,
Janice
P.S. I'm going to start posting interviews soon. Stay tuned!