Blog #1: Second draft

I'm plugging away at the second draft of my "Devil's Wall" novel, the one about Anna and Evgenia. I'm excited to be making progress, but at times it feels like 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.I'm revising according to my nice new outline. I have to write new scenes to fill in gaps (fun!).... But while doing so, I write notes to myself on edits needed in those new scenes! So I'm planning the third draft while I'm writing the second.A massive amount of work is ahead of me. On the plus side, I revise approx. 1 chapter/week, so with about 12 chapters left to revise, that's 12 more weeks - I'll be done by March! Yay!On the flip side, I haven't even started research. I told myself I would do the research first, but I'm lazy, so I skipped ahead to rewriting. Once I do start researching, it will require a whole new set of revisions, hopefully none too massive.In my work life, being a perfectionist is a drawback; generally it's better to get things done than worry about doing them well. Writing is a different animal. You have to be a perfectionist, because it's so freaking hard to craft a readable story -- really, it is, it's a ton of work. In my job, when I think of potential improvements, I can take them or leave them. If there's time, I'll take them. If not, we'll keep moving forward.With writing, any improvement that pops into my head has to be made at some point.It's actually a beautiful thing! Writing is a place where perfectionism is an asset, not a flaw.But boy does this novel-writing thing take time. As it happens, I've been working on this book since June 2014. :-)