A heady moment in a writer’s life is writing The End on a work in progress. Chances are it has taken you between three to six months (maybe more for some of us) to get to that point in a manuscript. It feels amazing! It should! You did it! The End also feels strange. Suddenly, all of the time you’ve devoted to this written work is open.
Lots of writers jump right into a revision.
I’m going to offer you this bit of advice: DON’T!
Let that manuscript sit . . . let it stew . . . let it slip away from your mind so that it becomes new again.
Here’s why: You’re too close to the narrative to see it clearly to revise it. When you jump into the work too early to begin a rewrite without any perspective to do so, you’re going to make changes that muck things up. When I finish a draft, I tuck it away for a minimum of four weeks. Stephen King in On Writing suggests six weeks. I know. I know. This is difficult to do, but believe me, you will be so glad you did. Like Stephen King further expounds on this topic, resist the temptation to go back early! Lock it away in a drawer and have someone else hold onto the key if you need to.
“How long you let your book rest—sort of like bread dough between kneadings—is entirely up to you, but I think it should be a minimum of six weeks.”
What are 10 things you can do in the meantime?
Rest!
Read!
Work on a new idea!
Catch up on some housework projects you let slide while you were writing.
Binge watch that series everyone is talking about.
Bake.
Volunteer
Blog
Develop other tools that support your author life
Get into nature!
When you sit down after your hiatus from the project, you are going to look at it with fresh eyes, and that is as magical (if not more so) than writing The End. Just trust me on this . ..