Itโs the first Wednesday of the month, which means itโs Insecure Writers Support Group day. The purpose is to share and encourage, express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak, as well as offer assistance and guidance. Itโs a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Make sure to check out other writersโ posts here.
Can you believe itโs already December? How did that happen? Soon 2015 will be over!
How was November? Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? If you did do NaNo, there are several ways you could be feeling โ elated itโs over and you won, disappointed you didnโt write 50k words, burnt out, or somewhere in between.
I spent November working on my second draft, which I will continue working on until completion. I hope thatโll be end of December/early January.
November has been a month full of lessons for me, the biggest being managing expectations. I thought I could go at nearly NaNo speed with this draft, but quickly learned that thatโs not going to happen. I thought I had the story and characters figured out, and then I kept stumbling and realized I need to do some more background work.
โThat was the thing about the world: it wasn’t that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn’t expect.โ
โ Lev Grossman, The Magician King
The first draft is like gathering all your materials and supplies. This second draft is teaching me that the gathering doesnโt stop, but it also shouldnโt stop my writing. Iโve been slowly but steadily making progress. I know more and more about my story and the characters. The second draft is not as fun as the first, but I still enjoy it immensely.
My take away from the month is this: whatever you did or did not accomplish pat yourself on the back, forgive yourself if necessary, and keep going. Oh, and have a cupcake. Life is always better with cupcakes.
Have a wonderful month!
โOh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them,โ exclaimed Anne. โYou maynโt get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, โBlessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.โ But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed.โ
โ L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
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