To Take A Break Or Not To Take A Break

December is half way over and I haven’t really done a whole lot of writing.  

I haven’t decided that’s a good thing or not.  On one hand, I wrote two novel s in four months.  On the other hand, I have a goal to have either the first novel self published by this time next year or have a publishing date.  At the moment, neither novel is ready for public consumption.   They need a lot of work but at the same time, I kind of need a break.

I did a lot of writing in a short amount of time.  My brain needs a little bit of a rest.  I’m now starting to get to a point where I’m coming up with ideas for the rewrite including changing the direction of the story to raise the stakes a bit and create more compelling tension.  I’m actually really excited about the possibilities for the story and where it could go. 

It’s also the holiday season.  I have a half decorated house, sugar cookie dough in the fridge and brand new Christmas cookie cutters that need to be used.  I’ve decided that taking some time to celebrate the season is a good thing for this month.  After that, I can get back on a steadier track.  In the meantime, any writing I get in is a bonus.

Previewing On My Kindle

One of the reasons I even considered writing a novel is because of my Kindle.  I bought one as a pre-graduation gift to myself earlier this year and I love it.  It has a feature where you can send your documents to the Kindle and use the device to read them.  I sent one of my short stories to the device.  It was such a cool experience for me as a writer to see my work in print on the device.  With self-publishing becoming more popular, it gave me the confidence to write my own novel.

That one novel is actually two and they're now both in draft form on the device.  I love it because I can read it without the temptation to change while I read.  I'm reading my novel for the first time and I'm really loving it so far.  It has a lot of rewriting that needs to happen but I'm really proud of what I've created so far.

Dealing With The Haters

One thing that happens a lot to me is I get the occasional hater.  In the early part of my career (which is where I'm at now), I have been blessed to not get very many of these types of people in my life.  I have had a few and, I'm not going to lie, I considered giving up as a writer.  Instead, I used it to motivate myself.

I had a classmate tear apart a script I wrote.  This person's comments were so bad that I actually turned the comments in to my teacher.  It wasn't that I didn't think my script was perfect (it wasn't).  I felt that in an environment where we were supposed to share "constructive criticism," this student needed to word their comments to me differently.  The teacher agreed.  Later, the student apologized to me and we were able to reconcile   The student also saw me go from a shaky beginner to a polished novice throughout the course of the class.

I have been on the other side of the equation too.  I have read work that I didn't like.  It happened in a class about a year ago.  I was peer editing a piece and it was awful.  As I read it, I remembered about the times that I had haters (particularly the incident described above) and considered that when making my comments.  I was honest with the person but made sure I shared it in such a way that this person could continue to write.  When our group met to share our feedback, I actually realized the writer was doing something different with the narrative structure and it made more sense to me.

I am in a fortunate position these days because I am able to receive and demand constructive feedback.  When I am published (or produced depending on the medium), I am going to encounter people who aren't going to like my work or think I'm not a good writer.  There are going to be people criticizing me who I have never met and likely never will.  I hope that I will be in a place where I can learn from them and grow.  That's why I don't mind criticism.  However, I do feel there are ways to criticize without destroying someone.

I have a lot of respect for Simon Cowell.  The man knows what's good and what isn't.  Some of the people who would audition for American Idol were truly awful.  I don't know if they were really bad and knew it or if they were bad but were constantly told how good they are by people who were afraid to let them down.  Cowell was honest and I liked that.  What I didn't like was when he'd say something like "Never sing again."  That was a little too extreme.  Giving up should be an absolute last resort.  If you are truly passionate about what you do, think about what needs to be improved.

I have had people criticize my work and I've used it as an opportunity to change.  If someone complains about the plot, I will see if I need to tell the story from a different angle.  If someone doesn't like a character, I ask myself why the character is there in the first place and see if I need to justify their presence in the story.  If the dialogue's not working, I take a look at that and see what needs to be changed.

Feedback--good and bad--helps me.  It helps me to know from an outside perspective what's working and what isn't.  If someone tells you to stop writing, ask yourself why.  If that person is the person who sits next to you in a beginning writing class, they probably aren't the best authority because they're learning alongside you.  If it's your publisher, I might take them a little more seriously.  The only one who can stop you from writing is you.

Reflecting On A Major Accomplishment

I wrote a novel in a month?

Yes I did. 

This accomplishment is still sinking in and doesn’t quite seem real but I’m really proud of myself.  My project wasn’t an official National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) project because I had been outlining it for a long time but I decided to use the month to write it.  I finished my first novel in October, took a few days off and then turned around and started the NaNoWriMo project.  It’s a new story but with the same characters as my first novel.  The first novel had a distinct ending but I wasn’t quite done with my characters and their story.  While writing the second novel, I think I figured out a way to weave the stories together.  I’m still not sure about that but I’m glad I was able to write it in order to work out some of my ideas.

How did I do it?  I already try to write an hour a day so I kept up with that goal.  I can get a lot done in an hour and sometimes, I have so much fun writing that I keep going.  I also schedule writing marathons where I’ll write until the early hours of the morning.  One night I stayed up until six o’clock in the morning.  I only do that when I can sleep in the next day because it takes a lot out of me and takes a couple of days to recover but it feels pretty great to get a lot done.

The one thing that keeps me going is that I acknowledge and accept the fact that my first draft is going to be crap and I don’t strive for perfection.  If I were to edit as I write, I’d be working on the same project forever.  If I write something that I’m not sure about, I will leave it in with a note about what makes me concerned about it.  No one is allowed to see my first draft.  The draft is what I use to get the idea out of my head and into the world.  After the rewrite is when I will let people read it for feedback.

What’s next?  Every part of me wants to start the editing process today but I’m really trying to let the story settle a bit.  I have some ideas that include everything from name changes of the characters to shaking up the plot a bit.  I’m also considering taking the two novels and combining them into one story.  I’m trying to let the story rest for two weeks before I get started.  I’m also a little shaky about writing novels.  I’m used to screenplays where the format is fast and quick and you don’t have to describe everything.  I fell in love with the format when I took a short story class and read several novels for my classes in my last term in school.  I’m kind of learning as I go but every class I have taken has taught me about how to write and how to tell a good story. 

I am hoping by this time next year to either have the novel(s) published or have a release date.  I’m not done yet but I have completed one very large step.