How many unfinished pieces of writing do you have? I have an embarrassing amount of essays that are about 90 percent there, but I can’t seem to find the motivation to do that final polish.

I get really excited about new ideas. I love that initial drafting process, just throwing thoughts and ideas onto the page and then shaping them into something that holds together. At that point, I share it with my writing group, super smart readers and writers who always have the best comments and ideas to push my work forward. I gather all their comments and go home, and then I let the essay sit. And sit. And sit.

I don’t think I’m alone in being excited over a new idea. Sometimes it seems like revision will be a lot of work, though in reality it probably won’t take as long as I think.

Now I’m about to go back to work for the semester and I’m not going to have a lot of time to work on those unfinished essays. But I think if I gave myself just one day, I could get a lot done. I should probably just put that day on my calendar.

How about you? Do you find it difficult to make those last revisions? Any advice?