It's a new year and while there are many going with resolutions and goals (I did my goal post this morning) it's also a good time for an Insecure Writers Support Group post.
Right now in my writing I'm at the editing phase, or at least the trying to edit around work and slacking off phase. And I'm back to a familiar insecurity: can I ever finish?
This is an insecurity that was first faced with just finishing a novel first draft. 2 years of attempts at NaNoWriMo and only getting up to 14,000 words on a single story certainly made me wonder/doubt back then if I could actually finish a single novel. Never imagined I could write a whole novel, let alone doing it in a month. But oh have I changed on that front. Now I just wrote 165k in November and have 4 finished first drafts with 5+ in the middle of with promise of finish. But a finished first draft isn't the end of the process.
Will I ever finish editing? Will I ever get something ready to submit?
I don't know yet because I haven't done it before but like NaNo, I'm going to keep trying until it happens.
Do you worry about this?
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8 comments:
I am in Edit phase, too. And, I fear it will never end. But, I did just started a second phase of edits on my first novel, so I need to be patient. You, too. You will get their. Just like when 50,000 seemed so insurmountable, but now you know you can do it. After the first edit, it will be the same way.
Good luck.
You can do it Dawn! In fact, once you get into it, you'll find that editing and revising are so much easier than actually writing the thing. Well, at least that's what I've decided. ;)
You can do it!!! The revision process can be tough, and I highly recommend finding a critique partner or two to help you find your way. Even without a CP, you can do it!
Just keep working at it, and you'll get there.
Happy Writing and Revising for 2013!
Sometimes you just gotta sit through it. I like editing better than first write, but it can be hard to re-read so many times. You'll get there Dawn.
.....dhole
I have the exact same fear, that I can never finish anything. I keep working and working towards meeting that finish line.
Thanks everyone.
sydneyaaliyah - Good luck with your edits. I hope to see the second phase edits some day.
Charity Bradford - Thanks. I hope it gets easier or it'll take a long time each book. Will keep working on it. :-)
Tyrean Martinson - I have a couple readers who are writers too, so I'm hoping they will help. I love my writing buddies.
Donna Hole - *sits and starts working* Yep, gotta just do it.
Loca4crafts - It's a common fear but one we can work our way through. Good luck with your projects.
Yes, I'm worried about the 'will I ever know I'm ready to submit my work' thing too. But I keep working at revising my short stuff and writing new short stories, getting critiques and feedback from writers I respect, so hopefully the day will come when one of them says "You know, you should try to get this published." :D
Best of luck with your goals, especially the very concrete ones where you know you can succeed if you just put in the work. A lot of the vague and nebulous expectations fall in line if you concentrate on the stuff you know you can do right now.
kelworthfiles - Thanks for the comment. Keep on writing, good idea. Good luck to you too.
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