I’m waiting on critiques to come back to me before I can go any further. So today I decided to write from scratch. I haven’t done that in few weeks so I decided to tackle a short story, just 20 pages. I’m having so much fun with it!! 
Sometimes, when I’m mired in the editing and revision stage of a finished work, I lose sight of how much I enjoy writing. I truly love it, it brings me joy. I hope I never lose that excitement. I hope it never becomes just a job to me. And I’m glad my burnout didn’t last for long! 
Looking forward, I’m sorry to say that I foresee the rest of the year being spent mostly on edits and revisions. Everything I have is earmarked to go somewhere and I’ve got this thing inside of me that says a ms has to be perfect before it leaves my hands. It may not be perfect per se, but in my mind it has to be the best it can possibly be. That way, if it comes back (which I hope doesn’t happen, of course), I can tell myself, “You couldn’t have done any better.” There’s no regrets, no self-recriminations.
So to ward off edit burnout and writing withdrawals, I think I’ll have to write a short story every now and then, just to keep everything smoothly oiled. 
Also I’m taking off for a writer’s retreat in November. Author Jane Porter wrote a great article about having a productive writer’s retreat. It’ll be my first attempt, so we’ll see how it goes, but I have high hopes that the experience will galvanize my creativity. Jane has a lot of great articles on her site that you might want to check out.
Also, Nicole Jordan’s new step-back cover is yummmmmmy!!! Visit her site to check it out. It’ll take a little bit to load, so be patient. I think it’s worth it. :hehe:
