Hey everyone!
So I realize it's been a while since I last posted. Summer turned out to be busier than I thought. My summer classes turned out to be much more intense than I thought they would be, I've been trying to do a lot of writing, and I've been querying, not to mention my personal activities, where I've been trying to make the most of the summer before it passes me by!
Basically, I've been super busy not only this summer, but trying to get everything ready for the fall semester, when I start my English major. Unfortunately, blogging fell by the wayside, but now I'm back!
So let's talk about how things are on the writing front. Near the end of my spring semester (April?) I started work on a new manuscript. For the sake of clarity, let's call this one manuscript #3. I had stalled with the first story I started writing after my completed manuscript (we'll call this one manuscript #2) and this new idea came to me out of nowhere. As it always is when a story is fresh, I couldn't write fast enough to keep up with my mind. As summer started, I found myself with 10,000 words of a new story just like that. That is about 1/5 of a completed young adult book! I was so exhilarated by manuscript #3 and so frustrated with manuscript #2 that I basically just gave up on #2 and decided it wasn't meant to be. I've read a lot of information from published authors about how sometimes they write, or begin to write, a new manuscript and find that it just isn't right. And that's okay.
So I accepted that that must be what happened. I was okay with it. It happens. So I focused on the new one, #3, and on everything I else I've been up to this summer.
But like all new things, the writing fervor I was experiencing on #3 died out. I don't mean to say that I've given up on it as well, because that's the furthest thing from the truth. I am still working on it and I'm very happy with where it's going. I think this is going to be a good one.
But that old one, #2, the one I gave up on, is bugging me. Lately, I can't get it out of my head. It's begging to be written and it's getting harder and harder to ignore it. I looked at it again. I only have about 7,000 words. I thought I had written more than that. I tried to write and couldn't come up with a single word. I got frustrated, growled at the computer, then gave up and ran back into the comfortable embrace of #3.
But #2 is still bugging me. I whined about it to my mom and my boyfriend, and while I complained, I realized something so stupidly obvious, I feel ridiculous for saying this. My first (completed) manuscript was so hard to write. Was it hard because it was my first? Certainly. Was it hard because I had wanted to give this story words for so long so I felt pressure? Of course. Was it hard because it was fantasy and required special considerations while writing it? Definitely. But I persevered because I knew it had to be written. Even if it never gets published (even though I really hope it does), I'm glad it's written.
I think if I was meant to give up on #2 now, it wouldn't still be bugging me. I think I would have long ago forgotten about it and not worried about it. But it's pestering me because it deserves to be written. It's an interesting story, I think, and I want to see it through.
Is it going to be hard? Oh, most certainly. But I think it will be worth it. And in the meantime, when I get frustrated with it, I still have #3 to work on as well. I hope to finish #3 within the next couple of months, based on the pace at which I'm writing.
All of this to say that I never deleted #2. I still have it on Scrivener, and I'm so glad. If I had deleted it, I would have to start all over and that would be nearly impossible. Now I already have 7,000 words and an outline to go off of.
So here's my point. Don't delete anything and don't give up on anything just because it's hard. See it through. I'm going to start trying to take that advice myself.
<3 KMG
