I’m not sure what’s happened with this manuscript I’ve been working on since October. I started it as part of the YA Buccaneers fall writing boot camp and I enjoyed that so immensely. But I can’t remember the last time I wrote a book that gave me this much grief. That literally made me want to stop writing it almost every day. I actually enjoyed the first 20k or so, but after that, it really went downhill.
I’m about 99% positive that I’m not the only writer this has happened to. Many writers I know have one book they’ve struggled with and wish they’d never started. And then there are those ones who seem to be somehow okay with every word they’ve ever written. Those people amaze me.
There were only a few things, besides chocolate and coffee, that managed to help me finish the MS (and it was only 50k because that was ALL I could get out of it).
I took a step back
After October ended, NaNoWriMo began. I look forward to this every year, but I think I looked forward to it even more this year because it meant I got to write on something other than my current MS, Blood on My Name. During Nano, I still wrote on BoMN, but only a couple hundred words here and there. And the break really helped me pull myself together and determine that I didn’t want to give up on it. Not at 35k words in.
I remembered why I started it
I have a personal reason for writing every book I ever start. That may be part of the reason why I have such a hard time stopping an MS that’s being particularly difficult. BoMN is about revenge and broken trust and all that good stuff. Somewhere along the way, it became a little convoluted and the plot holes made me want to stop. So during my step back, I also went back to the reason why I started it to begin with. It’s a story I wanted to write. And it’s that simple.
I got feedback on it
This one was new for me. I’m a perfectionist and I don’t usually send out my stuff until I know I like it well enough. But I had a critique partner read this one during its first draft phase. And she was able to point out the problems and even gave me solutions on how to fix some of them. I’m not going to lie, it amazed me that she managed to get through the whole thing. I also won a full critique from a lovely lady that I can’t wait to hear back from. I think their combined efforts might be able to save this thing.
Which is great, because I already promised it to my agent.
Do you have any tips or tricks for getting through a difficult writing project? Let me know in the comments or chat me up on Twitter @judi__Lauren. I’d love to hear from you!
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