Final Revisions and 80’s song challenge

Right now I feel like this:

I’ve polished 131 out of 373 pages, and am trying to read as fast as I can. The ending of this book still isn’t what I want it to be. Already I’ve deleted in the neighborhood of 40 pages and written 25. This, after I *thought* I was done. That’s the problem with books. You finish them, go back and re-read, and sometimes you scratch your head and wonder, “What in the world was I thinking?? That’s not the ending! This stinks!” Other times, you re-read a section and think, “Oh, God, that’s good!”

Um, this book would fall into the former category. I had my engineering husband read it, and he’s caught all of my time/distance problems so far. Now it’s up to me to do the final fix on the ending. I feel like Rocky Balboa, getting ready to do that long run. I know I can do it, and I know it’ll be great when I get there…but boy, the trip sure is daunting. Here’s hoping that by the time I get to the end, I’ll have figured out what I did wrong.

You know, it never gets any easier. In fact, each book is getting harder because I want it to be better than the last one. But it will be sent off soon…my deadline is at the end of this month! And here I thought I’d be finished at the end of October.

My husband and I were hanging out last night (while I was editing), and we were playing “Name that Tune.” He’s an 80’s music buff, and he was trying to get me to figure out the song based on a few chords. Just for fun, want to try it? See if you can guess these 3, based on a few lyrics. You can check your answers by clicking on the link. (Be forewarned, you’ll have songs stuck in your head all day.) Then, if you want, post your own opening lyrics challenge in the comments section. Try to guess the song of the person who posted before you! Let’s see what other fun 80’s songs we can come up with.

1. Meeting you, with a view…
2. The Salvation Army band played, and the children drunk lemonade
3. Standing there alone, the ship is waiting. All systems are go…

Keep positive thoughts for me on these revisions, please!