yvettecarol posted: " It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you'd like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post on the firs"
It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you'd like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post on the first Wednesday of every month. Every month, the organizers announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. Remember, the question is optional!!! Let's rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG, and the hashtag is #IWSG.
May 4 question - It's the best of times; it's the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)? Writer highs for me are writing the rough draft. Man, it's fun. Starting a new middle-grade series has been a total joyride. It has refreshed my awareness of where the true nectar is in this business for me. Prior to that, I had spent ten years editing when I was working on The Chronicles of Aden Weaver. And I had lost touch with the heights of giddy joy attainable when you're writing a new copy. Truth be told, after ten sallow years of editing I was so sick of the process, I even considered giving up this writing gig altogether. Who would do this s..t? Seriously.
But six months later, once I had recovered from publishing my trilogy and regained the will to live, I sat down with a pen and paper to see if I could still summon something from the ether. I did a lot of looking at that %$#@ piece of paper. The words did not spring from my pen straight away. I remember thinking at the time maybe my ability to write was like a giant rusted machine with all the parts seized up, in need of an oil and maybe a jumpstart. The only way through it was to do it. I made myself sit and write for ten minutes every morning.
Slowly, the cogs started moving, the wheels turning again. I was off.
To write freely again I felt like a child riding a bike down a hill, with the wind rushing through my hair. The muse was back and we were away and flying over hills and valleys far below, the horizon endless and beckoning with adventure. Riding with the muse in full effect with a book underway is intoxicating and it feels like summer all year round. The problem is the actual writing of the story is only the first and shortest part of the process, swiftly followed by the grueling marathon that is editing.
Suddenly, as you start to read your inspired thoughts and create witterings, you come face to face with the fact that this really is the "rough" draft. Your brilliance is in need of some elbow grease. An utterly daunting, Everest-sized, a towering mountain of work.
You buckle up your pants and wade into the uncountable writer's low of editing. The sort of fine focus an author must now bring to bear on the words is akin to the intensity of a laser beam. Each word needs to be examined and proven worthy. Sounds easy. Believe me, it is not. This focus needs to be maintained all day every day. It takes energy and strength of character.
Me, I'm asleep by the third paragraph. The only way to keep myself editing is to put matchsticks under my eyes and prod myself with a stick. Talk about sheer agony. Jumping up to walk outside in the garden, taking refreshment breaks, all sorts of tricks must be employed to edit hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Just thinking about the editing process to come makes my nerves go taut. I bargain with myself. I kid myself. Maybe I won't polish this new series. I'll just finish it, leave it in a mess on the floor and carry on writing the next thing. Yeah, right.
Such is a writer's life. Yet, I wouldn't give it up for the world.
What about you. What are your writer highs? And what are your writer lows? Let's compare notes.
Keep Writing! Yvette Carol *
The first step in writing a novel is to accept that you have to get it wrong before you get it right. ~ Jarred McGinnis
*
Subscribe to my newsletter by emailing me with "Newsletter Subscription" in the subject line to yvettecarol@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment