Virtuous

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

I am, by nature, an impatient person. I am not a shopper, not a waiter, not a ponderer... I am a doer. I make decisions. Sometimes I make the wrong decisions, but I make them. I am fairly certain this is why editing makes me crazy. Editing is all about patience and pondering and waiting until the right words, the right setting, the right scene coalesces into a describable and captivating existence.

There are so many sites out there about writing and how to do it and what to use to start and how to keep going. There are as many methods and procedures and processes as there are writers. It can be daunting if you try to homogenate them all into something you can use, but there is a common thread. Most of them will tell you, in one way or another, just get it down - WRITE! Finish the idea and get it onto the screen because all first drafts suck. I hear this. I agree with this. Well, mostly I agree with this. I think, however, that my dread of editing is the thing that pushes me to wait, to gain patience and to start with the best version of my story.

I have actually rewritten my own first draft of the first chapter of my third book. Yeah... Weird right? I couldn't leave it alone. I had a major time-line flaw, so that helped, but as I was restarting this morning, I realized I was approaching this draft with patience. Patience! I wanted it to be less about finishing and more about starting well.

Who knows, maybe I am growing up! Or maybe this was just the kick in the pants I needed to get this one rolling. Like backing away from the starting line to get a better stride going. Whatever it is, I am digging it!