Whew. I’m emerging from about two weeks deep in the revision hole. This was by far the most intense writing experience of my nascent career. Normally, I write daily, but with no real pressure. However, this time I had a deadline to meet. I did not have a lot of time. And I had a lot of work to do.

So here’s what my days looked like…

Weekdays: Wake up at five a.m. Write. Go to work at seven. Come home at five. Write until midnight. Sleep. Repeat.

Weekends: Wake up at five a.m. Write until midnight. Sleep. Repeat.

Until I clicked send at midnight and met that deadline.

Without a doubt, this was great for my writing. It showed me what I was capable of. I stopped worrying about word count and focused purely on what the story needed. My non-deadline experiences with rounds of revisions in the past were long, drawn-out affairs. But in one fell swoop, I drastically improved this book. It was wonderful to be so steeped in the story that I thought and dreamed about it almost nonstop. That kind of immersion put me in the zone I needed to be in.

On the flip side, it was not good for my personal life. Dishes piled up. Dogs whined for attention. My body yearned for movement, social interaction, and non-take-out food. Friends and family were beginning to wonder if I had died.

But I didn’t, so yay!