I was in Spain on vacation with my husband recently when we decided to do one of those ultra touristy three countries in one day tours. I remember cutting through the Pyrenees mountains on our way to Ax-Thermal, France and thinking this is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! Stretching more than 400 km it was easy to get an overwhelming sense of smallness. God forbid something were to happen to the tiny bus I was riding in, would I be able to find my way to the nearest form of civilization? Those feelings of being overwhelmed and alone is how I feel as I write the second draft of my novel.
I had
some how got it in my head
that writing the second draft would b
e relatively
easy
compared to the first draft. A
fter all
,
the story is done
and it was only a matter of
mak
ing
it sound better, right?
Unfortunately I was wrong
. It's
even
slightly embarrassing
how much I had
underestimated the work
it takes authors to produce a finishes product.
As I stare at the white screen, dotted with black
text,
I
force myself to ignore the voices telling me to e
rase
everything
start from scratch.
That is an even more overwhelming decision. All while this is going on I have my good
intention
ed
husband
asking me
"So when are you going to finish your book?" and then
there is my dad calling, asking
"So when are you going to finish your book so I can retire?"
They want to show support, I know,
but the questions
coupled
with my inability to get through my second draft is coming down on my like a
boulder
.
So how do I solve this? I really do not know the answer
but I do have two options:
1. I can use my first draft as a really detailed outline. Yes I am a pantser and maybe that is my problem. Maybe I should have put more work into my novel before I started writing it. I thought I did. I spend at least a month sorting it out in my head, thinking about the plot and the characters and the setting, all of it, before I opened up Word. Perhaps it wasn't enough. So I can use the first draft as an outline and write
a better
story from it.
2. Just plow through, whether good, bad or ugly.
I am dedicated to this story, which is why I come back to it over and over again even if the only thing I was able to edit was a paragraph. Sure the wording my be off but there heart of the story is still there.
I need to r
emember
,
this is only the second draft. I could have many more after this. I can work out each individual issue as I go
along
.
I have abandoned many stories in the past and this is not going to be one of them. I am sure I can
keep going.
So tonight I'm bringing all my tools (a glass of red wine) and I'll hunker down and get back to work, the only question is, which one of my options will I choose?
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