Trials of the Analytical

Current Week's Edited Word Count: 1,479
White Lilac Total: 70,110
Favorite Book of the Month: Shield of Stars By: Hilari Bell


Okay, I have a confession to make. For the past two months I have been soooo psyched about editing my book. My mind would take breaks from my first draft writing to imagine how fun it was going to be to tear down my old writing and build a sparkling tower in its place. I pictured myself gleefully deleting extra words and crafting glorious sentences that sang on their own.

I currently have five pages of a new first chapter that I have spent the last two days going over...every...single...word. And I have decided writing a blog would be more fun. : ) This is to distract my mind and give me a creative outlet. Yeah. I need a break from being too analytical. That's what I'll say.

When I write my stories for the first time, there is always an element of editing that goes on as the story progresses. Since I have switched to using a computer for my writing needs, it has been so much easier to scroll up to the spot I need to fix and do it immediately. Once the first draft is completed I go back over it making any changes I think would make the story flow better. But this time it is different. I find myself struggling too much with each word choice and finding it difficult to move onto the next.

Is it possible for editing a story to be harder than creating one?

One First Draft Down....

Current Week's Edited Word Count: 1,414
White Lilac's Total: 70,045
Favorite Book of the Month: Shield of Stars By: Hilari Bell


It's been awhile since I've blogged. Sorry about that. I would like to announce that I have finished the first draft of my book, The White Lilac! Ta da! (This is said in the voice of Wall-e when he shows Eva how he compacts trash into neat squares. And his rushed square of trash pops out in the shape of a cute little box and then flattens like a pancake.) I actually finished my first draft a week and a half ago and promptly fell into a creative slump. I thought about writing. I thought about doing anything productive. I thought about not thinking because my head was hurting.

Then I went to a writer's conference last Saturday. There is nothing so inspiring as being around other story lovers. Unless it is having someone say something you wrote is good. Is there a cloud higher than nine? I am always a bit apprehensive when going to a writer's conference and getting my work critiqued. Normally I hear all the problems with my story, all the things I need to fix, and it is only after a month or two when I go over my critiquer's notes that I see the positives. So knowing my newly finished work was going to be critiqued was a bit nerve-wracking. I entered the room ready to flinch. But the woman I met was really nice and she asked me questions like she understood what my story was about.

Now, before you begin thinking I walked away with a perfect story under my belt, I must tell you that one of the correctional things she said, and I agreed with, is my first chapter need to make the reader connect more with the main character. I had sent the sample she critiqued almost two months ago and then decided I didn't like the way the first chapter was and had written a new possible opening. So, this Monday I have started editing my first (now second) draft and rewriting the beginning.


Have you ever been afraid to show your work to others? What do you do to conquer your fear?