The ‘magical moment’ actually arrived a few weeks ago. I read through the Trilogy for the first time in many months and felt so pumped up and ready to dive into revisions. I rearranged my wall of post it notes. I chose a problem area to focus on and outlined a few new scenes.

And then I stared at the computer screen for a couple weeks until I decided it was time to check my e-mail again.

It’s not that I’ve lost interest in the project. Truly, I love it more than ever, and it’s so exciting to have fresh eyes on it after such a long immersion in other projects. Honestly, I think I’m just scared.

After doing final edits on the Clocks book, I’ve forgotten how messy my early drafts look. (Seriously. Messier than my bedroom. Which is saying a LOT.) It just seems so fragile, like the skeleton of a building when it first reaches the stage of, “Oh, I guess they’re building a house.”

I have this irrational feeling that if I start working on this plot again, I might knock down what’s already good about it. I know that’s not how writing works, particularly since I save backup drafts of every stage of the process. But still, it’s holding me back, and I wish it wouldn’t.