The Creative Crone

I thought I was done, the manuscript was done–oh, sure it would need a few tweaks maybe some edits after my beta readers read it…and then the LITERAL second I emailed it to them, plot holes and problems popped into my head one after the other. A veritable parade of problems and unfinishment (it’s a word).

How could I have thought it was ready for others’ eyes? I messaged the beta readers, imploring them NOT to read. And then I did nothing, no thing, not one thing.

Because, I was exhausted in the roller coaster of finishing it, yay! (My dear friend had gifted me a two night stay at a local hotel so I could hunker down and do the thing.) Letting the beta readers (another dear friend and one of my nephews–both avid readers and honest!) know I was sending it out to them, and then the realization that there were still so many problems…

I watched Sarra Cannon do a YouTube video on editing–she spoke of doing an inventory LINK TO VIDEO OR YOUTUBE. And I thought, well, I think I can muster up the strength to try that.

And I did, and then I tacked my inventoried scene cards to my bulletin board and then I could clearly see what needed to go where (or, at least, see it clearER).

The next thing I did was move my manuscript from Word to Google Docs (Heart Breathings and Abbie Emmons link to both). And then chapter by chapter I started with rewrites. I think moving it from word to docs loosened something in my brain, I felt better able to try things and delete things (always a scary procedure).

It’s a much more solid storyline now and its also opened me up to ideas for the next book–I think it’s a trilogy–but I’m allowing in whatever wants to come in. Which is probably the biggest shift, no more forcing a storyline because I have to have this ONE thing happen. Magic happens in the doing and allowing.

***Update: Book still isn’t done, it’s done-er, but not complete. Every time I edit I realize more and it still feels unfinished. My husband’s dear friend who passed away in early 2020 use to tell me, “You know how to finish a book? Write ‘the end’.” If only Jim, if only. I feel like one of those lifelong students who keeps getting degree after degree without ever using them for an actual career. I am okay with not being done, that is to say, I am okay with not being satisfied that ‘eh, good enough’ is not good enough for me.

I will continue editing and adding scenes etc. and I do have an end date in mind, but the world won’t blow up if I blow past that, although my sense of myself as a writer might. So, I recommit myself to being done at a date I have set in my mind, maybe I’ll share it, maybe I won’t.

Are there things you keep working on without ever finishing? I’d love to hear about any projects, creative or otherwise–let me know in the comments.