I sent my first three chapters out to Brian Hades at Edge. So I have successfully followed through. But rather than feeling cheerful and optimistic, I'm choosing now to be depressive and discouraged about the state of Angel Odyssey. I blame the fall cloud cover in the Seattle area today.
I mentioned on Monday that we need to not reject our own work. To believe in it. That is still true, hard as that is to believe when I'm sitting at my desk and thinking about all the cuts I'm going to 'have to' make. The truth is, I don't know what, if any, cuts will be required. I MAY be getting ahead of the game by cutting my word count way down by sharply reducing one POV character's chapters. Or I may be borrowing trouble.
But let me step back and be less specific. This isn't just about my novel, this is about every writer and every novel. We are never satisfied. We are constantly revising. Letting go of our work is one of the hardest things we can do. We are sharply aware that any given novel is not our 'best work', that there is always something more we can do.
Let it go. Write, revise it, get the typos out (you will need someone else's eyes for this. Please leave them in their head.) and get it as good as you can. Then let it go. Send it out. Let someone else reject it. Go write something new in the meantime. If and when and editor (not necessarily an agent) tells you to change something or make cuts, then make the cuts.
I am having a hard time taking my own advice but I'm going to try to. Tonight and tomorrow I'm going to go back to one of my new novels. I have work to do on Angel Odyssey. No doubt. But I'm not going to beat myself up or second-guess myself. If I can help it.
I mentioned on Monday that we need to not reject our own work. To believe in it. That is still true, hard as that is to believe when I'm sitting at my desk and thinking about all the cuts I'm going to 'have to' make. The truth is, I don't know what, if any, cuts will be required. I MAY be getting ahead of the game by cutting my word count way down by sharply reducing one POV character's chapters. Or I may be borrowing trouble.
But let me step back and be less specific. This isn't just about my novel, this is about every writer and every novel. We are never satisfied. We are constantly revising. Letting go of our work is one of the hardest things we can do. We are sharply aware that any given novel is not our 'best work', that there is always something more we can do.
Let it go. Write, revise it, get the typos out (you will need someone else's eyes for this. Please leave them in their head.) and get it as good as you can. Then let it go. Send it out. Let someone else reject it. Go write something new in the meantime. If and when and editor (not necessarily an agent) tells you to change something or make cuts, then make the cuts.
I am having a hard time taking my own advice but I'm going to try to. Tonight and tomorrow I'm going to go back to one of my new novels. I have work to do on Angel Odyssey. No doubt. But I'm not going to beat myself up or second-guess myself. If I can help it.
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