It's not always easy to be brave, but that's where the good stuff comes out. But you always have the next draft to be a little bit braver. Just let it be messy and get through the draft.
Nothing worked better for me than accepting the first draft is just that. By accepting the first draft isn’t the final draft, by accepting rewrites are simply a part of the process, only then could I let myself write the non-perfect mess needed to form into the final novel.
Exactly. Not only is doing it all in one draft nearly impossible, the pressure of getting everything right the first time is unworkable. There's magic in the mess, but you have to let it be messy.
this is inspiring! is there anything like NaNoWriMo for those of us well over 18? (i am going to read your substack on writing routines next…)
Anyone can do NaNoWriMo, no matter what age
And sometimes the cat decides she wants to wear the tux and damn cummerbund...
Thank you for the sage advice, Sonal. All very valuable!
There's no accounting for the vagaries of cats or novels.
Thank you for this, I will follow the spark and I will be brave
It's not always easy to be brave, but that's where the good stuff comes out. But you always have the next draft to be a little bit braver. Just let it be messy and get through the draft.
“There’s no wrong way to do this.” Oh wow. Thank you for all of this, and this part especially!
You are very, very welcome!
Nothing worked better for me than accepting the first draft is just that. By accepting the first draft isn’t the final draft, by accepting rewrites are simply a part of the process, only then could I let myself write the non-perfect mess needed to form into the final novel.
Exactly. Not only is doing it all in one draft nearly impossible, the pressure of getting everything right the first time is unworkable. There's magic in the mess, but you have to let it be messy.