Well, I’m feeling very sheepish today. My word count isn’t very high and I have a confession to make.Even after last week’s post about drafting and letting go of perfectionism and not going back to revise . . .
*hangs head*
I went back and revised my first chapter. And I only got in about 400 words on Chapter Two.
I have no excuse. My perfectionism is a sickness. I know that I’ve stifled my flow and squashed my word count because I interrupted everything to go back and revise the first chapter. The words aren’t coming so easily anymore and some of the ideas that were flowing have stopped. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but it’s a weakness I’m working on.
This week will be better. I can feel it. I’m going to look forward and really draft. No excuses.
So, just so I don’t feel all alone, like the only writer in the world who ruins a perfectly good groove, tell me what your writing weakness is and how you cope with it, okay?
Come on, confess. You know you want to. You may even feel better after.
11 comments:
Is it a weakness or a strength to make myself finish one project before starting another? I'm just talking about short stories here. And yes, I revise constantly.
My weakness . . . re-reading the last two, or three, or five chapters I wrote, and adding to them, thus editing them before writing the next chapter. I can't help it. It refreshes my memory on what's happening and where the story is going. The big problem with reading so much is that I don't have as much time to actually write the next scenes after that. Oddly enough, the word count keeps adding up. I'm nearing 30,000 already. My target goal is between 70 to 80,000. I don' think a contemporary romance should have many more words than that.
You have a great excuse for low daily word count, Julie. You put so much time into your blog. My little blog languishes, completely ignored in a small corner of the cyber world. Sigh. . .
T, I don't know if that's a weakness or a strength. I'm sort of counting it in my strength department, but lately, I must admit I've been going between a non-fiction project and a fiction, which is unusual for me. Usually I'm like you, I have to finish one before I start another. I wonder what that means . . .
Debra, thanks for not letting me feel alone! Although it's good to hear your word count is adding up. There's hope for me, yet. :)
I appreciate your support. You guys are awesome!
Julie
(Stupid blogger still won't let me sign in!) *sigh*
Weakness? As in, only one single weakness? I'm sure I have so many! Sometimes I'll come up with an idea, a what if, but then I won't know how to resolve it. Then I feel stupid. That's one thing that I'm struggling with right now. *tears hair*
*sits by Melanie* I'm glad to find another person tearing their hair. :)
Julie
I confess: I need to introduce a law enforcement officer into my story. Based on everything I've read, logically, he should be FBI. But that seems so overused! I want something different! (but then we're outside of logical. Pook.) Hmm, maybe he could be an agent of the SEC, investigating some insider trading...
Who could investigate murders across state lines?
Maybe I could pull out 3 random Boggle cubes, roll them, and come up with a NEW government agency.
The HJK (Haha! Just Kidding!)
Jon, have you thought about setting it in another country that would have a different organization? Just curious.
Julie
Jon,
I'm just curious. Do you already have a local detective doing an investigation on what ever crime's being perpetrated? Usually its kept locally until some brass sitting in his office calls in the FBI. You could really have fun with the tug of war over who gets to keep the upper hand, who shares information or holds it back, and, depending on how good-looking the agent is, what kind of attraction happens between detective and agent.
Oh, my gosh! I think I just came up with a new storyline. hehe
Thanks for the comments. =)
No, I don't want to set it in another country. (Hmm, part of the back story is, though.)
Debra, of course, that does sound interesting, but my main character is not an agent, so your idea might be better suited for your own storyline than mine. =)
BTW, I've been reading a Michael Connelly book that runs along those lines. Police detective assigned as liaison to FBI, they end up a couple. And the James Patterson Women's Murder Club has similar themes. I don't know if it's this common in real life, but it does seem common enough in fiction. =)
Same as your, but on steriods. I rewrite everything multiple times before I can go on. Yikes.
Sing it, sister. I'm awful about the perfectionism thing. It paralyzes me.
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