It Ain't Over 'Til... You Know

Since Friday, I've been celebrating the completion of my manuscript, The Salt Maiden (Love Spell Romantic Suspense, 12/07). Or so you would think. Actually, the days since have been consumed with the following activities:

• Tearing off the ending and rewriting it.
• Fixing continuity errors, from shifting hair and eye colors to geographic faux pas to an amazing space-time warp.
• Tearing off the ending and rewriting it again.
• Reading through the full manuscript and making a few more tweaks.
  
• Fending off the voices of doom, which feel compelled to whisper the ugliest quotes from the worst reviews I've ever received in my ear at all hours. Meanwhile, those confidence-building voices, freshly stocked with quotes emphasizing my wit and brilliance from all the wonderful reviews, readers' letters, and notes I've received from my agent and editor, have fallen disgustingly silent.
  

There's a terrible time in the life of a writer: the gap between completing the manuscript and getting feedback on it. It's a high time for my doubts, which generally stomp the hell out the loftier powers that remind me to "write fearlessly." This period of time has always been hard for me, and after writing thirteen contracted novels, it hasn't gotten any easier.

Insecurity is always with us. All of us, especially in such a subjective undertaking. You may never entirely shake it, but the real victory is to write anyway, in defiance... and in a joyous celebration of the stories and characters that kick up their heels and clamor, "Oooh, me next! Write me next!"