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?