Stop!

There are several lessons in life that everyone needs to learn. How to tell the time; how to mix the perfect vodka martini; when to use an apostrophe correctly.

And everyone needs to know when they should keep on doing something and when it’s the right moment to say ‘Enough is enough, I need to stop this now’. When someone buys you the fifth tequila slammer of the night, for example, it’s probably time to quit. Or when you think it’s really cool to buy yet another Osmonds / Backstreet Boys / Westlife t-shirt (delete according to your age).

In my case at the moment, I’m having trouble knowing when to stop rewriting and editing my novel. It’s finished. I know it’s finished yet I can’t resist having just another little tweak at some part of it. And if I don’t think that particular section is as good as it can be then it stands to reason that the rest of it isn’t either – so I’ll start with another rewrite from the very beginning.

It’s so maddening. It’s been ‘almost there’ for a couple of months now but I seem unable to let go. Or should that be ‘unwilling’? I guess that what’s really happening is that I’m doing all I can to postpone the moment when I have to ‘send my baby out into the big wide world’, as it were. While ever I’m still working on it nobody can tell me that my book’s useless, so if I keep it locked up at home it – and me – will be safe from harm.

That’s ridiculous, I know, so it’s time to let go. It’s time to get the damned thing finished.

Now I’m sorry but I’ve got to cut this week’s blog short. I’ve got another draft to write.