Today is my last day alone with this book, and I& #39;m procrastinating getting started.

You hear a lot of "the job of the first draft is to suck," and that& #39;s both true and emotionally healthy. But the first draft is also the only time when the book is 100% no question MINE.

I write for me. I revise for you. And sometimes I make some questionable choices when it& #39;s just for me, which is why I have editors and do revisions. But my relationship to draft two is not my relationship to draft one, and my relationship to draft one is the purest.

When I type THE END today, I will mail this draft off to my agent and the Machete Squad, and they will start telling me everything that& #39;s wrong with it. Everything I need to correct and change. And I& #39;ll do it.

And what comes out the other end will be a better book than draft one could ever dream of being. They& #39;ll make me better. But this special time won& #39;t come back, not for this book, ever again.

Finishing a book breaks my heart, every time.