They Didn't Ask For a Rewrite

I feel like all I blog about these days are revisions. I know. It's tedious. Tedious to me, too, if it makes you feel any better.

The day before yesterday, I was pretty stressed out. I was basically changing the entire second half of the book--majorly changing. And I was freaking out because I didn't know how it could be done.

Then I got a lovely comment, one thing led to another, and I found myself going back to the original email I received from the agent. What was it they had wanted me to change, again?

There were only four things. FOUR! Four small things {when compared to the reconstruction I was planning}. Only one of them would change the plot at all; the other three were just some resolution issues. And I had decided to change the whole second half of the book? What was I thinking?

And I realized something: nobody asked me to write a new book. The agent didn't say, "Well, we like the first half, but could you please totally re-write the second half." They didn't ask for a re-write, they asked for a revision.

I know they liked my story. They wouldn't have asked for revisions otherwise. So why do I think I need to change it?!

I'm so much more relaxed now. I've figured out which of my major changes are worth keeping. I'm going through from beginning to end, fixing what needs to be fixed and leaving what doesn't need to be fixed. Feels good.