Well, I guess the holidays are officially over. Bah! Humbug! Time to pull down all of those decorations, put away the Christmas cards, stop eating things I shouldn't, and get back to work.

I've been trying to catch up on my revised chapters at the same time I write new ones. There's something about working from both ends of a novel that is really helpful. I can point the reader toward the end much more efficiently. And, it's easy to see if there are any inconsistencies in the characters.

Even though this is a helpful process, there is still a part of me that rails against it. I somehow think I should be able to write the perfect chapter the first time. I can't tell if that's arrogance or laziness. Maybe it's a little bit of both. I have been really working on my attitude. I hope I'm making progress. Who knows...

Discipline is the watchword for the year. Discipline to keep myself in the chair writing. Discipline to re-write until it's the best I can get it. Discipline to listen to the words of wisdom offered in critique. These are the hardest parts of writing for me. Lord, help me.
J