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On Finishing a Manuscript
Done!
Tuesday night I finished my 11th book …. Everyone says, "Aren't you going to have a party! Dance naked! Get drunk?”
And you have to say, "No, not any more than a normal Tuesday."
Yes, it's a relief that you're going to make your deadline, and that you have, indeed, achieved the goal of finishing. But you don't know whether it's any good yet, and suddenly the thing that drove you, that you woke up to and went to sleep to for two years, isn't there anymore.
Imagine that you're Ahab, and you pursue Moby Dick to the ends of the earth—brave storms, disease, mutiny, but when you finally catch up to him you find he's dead on the beach and birds have been feeding on him for weeks. What do you do tomorrow?
—Christopher Moore
Whether it’s your eleventh book or your first, completing a manuscript can elicit a wide range of emotions. What will you do tomorrow? And is it any good?
You’ve brought your manuscript to this point, but unless you decide your manuscript is never going to see the light of day, it now needs more than you alone can give it. It needs the expertise that only book publishing professionals can provide.
It may be a hard thing to do, but it’s time to loosen your grip on that manuscript. It’s time to decide who you will trust to help you maximize its potential.
