Am I Done Yet? On (Finally) Hitting Submit
A Leap Day challenge to resurrect a zombie paper and send it into the world!
Hi friends,
This post is written as an intervention and a challenge: February has given us the great gift of an extra day this year. Let’s use it to submit some shit. By February 29, I challenge you to take one thing you’ve been sitting on for a while, give it one more polish, and send it out into the world.
I talk to people all the time who tell me they are 87 percent, 93 percent, 99.3459 percent done with something, but it just sits there rent-free in their minds and on their hard drives, because of the anxiety of pressing “submit.” We Schrödinger's Cat our work, because getting rejected sucks. Also, let’s be real, getting revisions back sucks. Hearing from your editor sucks. The whole process is exhausting and excruciating and, honestly, often not very interesting once you’ve analyzed the data and written your way into answering the lingering questions you have.
All of this is true, and yet because writing needs an audience, I’m here to tell you that it’s time for that zombie paper to venture into the sunlight. Here is a four-step process you can use to judge whether it’s time to submit the thing (and then how to make yourself do it).
Step One: The Vibes.
Before you send anything out, I think it’s a good idea not to read/think about it for a few weeks so you can come back to it with fresh eyes. Then, as you read, or read aloud, pay attention to how you feel. Is it frustrating or unclear? If so, you might need to spend more time on the argument and structure. Is it clunky? If so, maybe that means it’s time to spend some time working on the prose and language, doing a line edit. But it might feel…kinda okay?
I like to print things out, because I read differently on computer screens. Over the weekend I printed out what I sincerely believe to be the last draft of my book (the cat is suspicious), and as I’ve been reading it I’ve been alternating between “oh my lord how are there still so many typos who wrote this and why doesn’t she know the difference between there their and they’re” and “hey, this is pretty okay!” and “I am so bored I cannot imagine life if I have to read this again.” That’s pretty good! I also changed its title: world, get ready for Democracy: A Love Letter (And a Guide for Everyone Fighting to Save it), coming this summer.
Now, I have revised this book many (many, many) times, and never felt this way before. The vibes are there. This book is pretty much as good as I can make it. And my brain feels itchy, ready to focus on a new project. It’s time, y’all.
Step Two: The Clean up.
So, it’s time. How can you make sure not to embarrass yourself? The tragedy and comedy of writing is that no one has ever published a piece without error. But, there are things you should do to make sure you’re not writing about “pubic goods.” Mirya Holman’s presubmission checklist is fantastic. Read it, adapt it to your own purposes, use it.
Other than what’s on Mirya’s checklist, here’s how I use a few other editing tools:
I use Word’s spellcheck and grammar check, skeptically.
I look things up in CMOS, obsessively (hyphens! capitalization!)
I run PerfectIt, which probably isn’t worth the money unless you’re a professional editor, but you might like to look at. It’s far more useful on PCs than on Macs, but it is really good at catching inconsistencies in terms of punctuation, capitalization, numbers, etc.
Paul Beverley has a great free suite of macros (again, you may not want to learn macros unless you’re an editor, but they’re cool!) My favorite one is ProperNounAlyse, which makes a list of every capitalized word in your piece in alphabetical order. Why is this great? Because it helps catch Ann and Anne, Vicksburg and Vickberg, Ginsburg and Ginsberg, Tanisha and Tanesha, Lopez and López, etc.
I use Grammarly very, very sparingly (for my own writing—I don’t use it for my clients because I won’t use other people’s intellectual property to train AI). Grammarly is wrong about most things (read that sentence again, and maybe print it out and show it to your undergrads), but it is better than any tool I have found at two things: finding missing words, and flagging disagreement in verb tense. Although it’ll tell you when there is a missing “to” or “there,” I have found it to be almost uniformly wrong about usage and comma suggestions.
I have a running list of notes in my phone about things that pop up for me that need to go into the last draft (I came across a great Audre Lorde quote I want to add to my book, I want to acknowledge Navalny’s death, I am not sure I have my discussion of Israel-Palestine quite right, etc). All of these are precise, surgical things that don’t require me to read the whole book again, but are part of my checklist.
I run PerfectIt and spell check one more time because I might introduce errors in every revision.
Around page 42, even the most skeptical editor falls asleep.
Step Three: Creating Credible External Commitments.
If the vibes are good, the manuscript cleans up nicely, and yet it still is just…lingering, it’s time for external intervention. At some point, this is literally the best you can do with the piece. Is it good? Maybe not! But that’s for step four.
Create a credible external commitment to submit the thing. It could be telling your editor/co-author/external reader/dissertation advisor that you’ll send it to them by x date, and then following through. It could be making your writing group hold you accountable. It could be planning a big reward/celebration, and knowing that it feels lame to celebrate something you didn’t do. But whatever it is, this is your invitation to circle Leap Day on your calendar, totell us about what you’re going to do, and then to submit it.
I made a bunch of big decisions about my book in January that I’m very excited about, and excited to tell you about (once ink dries on a few things). The vibes are good—I made the decision, talked about it, slept on it, thought about other options, and really feel like it’s what I want to do. I’m working on the cleanup now, and have my last solo writing retreat scheduled for Sunday to actually get it done.
And I’ve made a promise to be done with my part by February 22, which is coincidentally the day we’re heading to a giant indoor water park for my kids’ mid-winter recess. Will the world end if I don’t submit it then? No. Do I badly want to submit it then, so that I can go on vacation with my family and then start the next chapter (haha) of my writing life? Very, very badly. I also have a reward that I’m going to give myself for finishing the book. More on that later too.
Step Four: Remember—There Are Always More Chances.
If, like me, you get paralyzed by fear of finality, remind yourself that there are always more chances. If submitting it to a journal or publisher feels like too big of a leap, maybe February 29 is when you send it back to a coauthor, an editor, or someone who owes you a favor. Get momentum! But if it’s ready, send it to that journal! If the article gets rejected, there are more journals (and just the act of submitting and revising can help you get the article moving).
I needed a previous version of this book to get lukewarm reception back in 2021 so it could become the book it is now (certainly better, radically different, and for better or worse the book I want to write). There will be a proofing stage where you can take one last look.
If this didn’t turn into the staggering work of genius you dreamed of, fear not! If you want to, you’ll write more/different/better articles and books in the future. Most of the time, the work we’re doing is important, but it isn’t existential. As the amazing Maggie Smith says, just keep moving.
So, my friends. let’s do it! Press submit, tell us about it, and let’s get great (and good enough) work off of our hard drives and into the world.
The cat and I are rooting for you!
xoxo
Kelly
Announcement time!
Epilogue Editing is growing! In March, watch this space for some exciting announcements about new services and opportunities to work with us. Like these:
Let’s Write…A Book. So, after all of this, do you want to write a book? Let’s do it together. From May 2024-May 2025, you can be part of the inaugural Epilogue Editing book writing cohort where you can take your book from idea (or early/stalled draft) to done. We’ll have quarterly craft/writing workshops, monthly ask me anythings/office hours, weekly co-writing sessions, a Slack accountability group, and I’ll read what you write and tell you how great you’re doing. I’ll have more information and an application available soon, but feel free to reach out ahead of time with any questions.
AprWriMo! In the meantime, if you’re looking for some end-of-semester accountability and camaraderie, sign up for our free AprWriMo, where we’ll write together every day from April 15-April 30, have a full-day minimalist writing retreat on April 19, and then take a break. What do you have to lose, friends? Sign up here. It’ll be great, I promise.
…a little more housekeeping.
Writing Retreats: Know where it’s not snowing and covered in ice? Mexico City. Our Mexico City retreat is almost completely full! It will be held May 20-25, 2024. We’ll be closing applications in early February. Start your summer with Mirya Holman and me in Mexico City, blocks away from Frida Kahlo’s house, getting all of the words written. Apply here.
Editing: I have room to edit new books starting in late April and this summer. August and September are filling up, so if you are the type who plans ahead, now is a great time to pencil in a spot for the end of the year. I have more availability for articles, grants, job materials, and things like that, and the sooner you tell me the more likely it is I can guarantee you the turnaround you need.
Coaching: I have no more spots for long-term consulting relationships this spring or summer, though I can schedule individual meetings here and there (if you want to talk about an R and R or your book proposal, we can find time to make that happen!). Again, if you’re the planning type, now is a great time for us to touch base about coaching this fall.
Definitely interested in the book writing cohort!