I like the process of writing but I detest editing. It’s really hard to let go of certain phrases, certain scenes. Once it’s written, it’s TRUE for me.

The most important thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that the first draft is not, and [i]doesn’t have to be[/i], the best that I can do. That helped me get over my fear of writing badly: it’s okay to write bad first drafts – everyone does. But it also means that a first draft is only one possible way that I can write this story. Everything I do while writing (from word choice right up to high-level plot and character and theme) I can do better a second time. And I have these huge epiphanies all the time when I’m revising – I make connections, I have new ideas, I throw pages out of the window and start over.

I’m finishing the latest draft of my third novel right now, and it is so much better, you wouldn’t believe.