You know you've got something when you cry

So I'm revising my Superman piece. And revising it. And then revising it some more.

I'd already gone through a round of revisions on my own. But then I met with my editor, and his observation was that I could use more of a set up to make the pay off at the end stronger. He suggested the intro in the bookstore to be its own little scene.

Ugh. I was resistant. I liked my in-media-res opening. But I did it anyway, just to see what would happen. And as usual, once I got over the inertia, the rewriting wasn't that hard after all, and now I'm happier with the opening.

And I knew I needed to do a little bit more with the ending, so I kept going, rewriting, and adding and tweaking so that now my piece grew by about a third.

And there was one line I added, right toward the end, that as soon I got it on the page, I burst into tears. Sobbed. And that's when I knew I'd gotten to the heart of the piece. I won't tell you what it is...I just hope that when you read it, it makes you burst out crying too.