Tag: first drafts

  • Substack: How long did it take to finish your first novel?

    Substack: How long did it take to finish your first novel?


    Your first finished novel doesn’t have to be fast—it just has to be finished, and sometimes that means learning to push through the stalls without panicking.


    My first finished book took 7 months—but before that, I started and abandoned at least 4 or 5. Writer’s block? Sure. But also burnout, self-doubt, distraction, and shiny new idea syndrome.

    Head over to Substack to learn how I get unstuck (and finish the damn book):

    Liz Writes Books | Substack | How long did it take you to finish your first novel?

    Have a Q you want A’d? Ask it on Tumblr: http://lizwritesbooks.tumblr.com/Ask

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  • Reminder: First Drafts are Always Shit

    One of the things I miss most about keeping a writing blog is the constant assessment of process. Because I was always writing about writing, I was more aware of my writing. More aware of what worked and what didn’t, why I did or did not do certain things. 

    Of course, the reason I stopped writing about writing was because I tend to want to use my writing time, you know, writing, and the more I indulged in the writing (as opposed to the writing about writing), the more I realized I didn’t know shit about writing, and maybe I just needed to shut up.

    But I seem to be learning the same things over and over again, and every time it happens, I’m like, “Oh, yeah, I remember that now. Wonder why that didn’t stick.”

    The most recent of these moments is happening now, and it has to do with first drafting.

    Or more specifically, that first drafts are shockingly shit, and the best way to combat the shit-shock is to always be drafting something.

    I learned this in 2010, and then again in 2012, and then a year later in 2013, and then in July 2014. 

    And now I’m learning it again in April 2015. 

    It’s surprising how quickly one forgets just how incredibly hard it is to draft a book. To put words on the page even though you know they are the wrong words. Even though you know the words are absolute shit. 

    When I finished my last book, I promptly started another. Because I hadn’t yet forgotten that the secret to drafting is to never stop drafting. 

    But then there were holidays and revisions and setbacks at work. There was stress and anxiety and sick cats and stomach bugs. 

    In the end, the book I had been working on got scrapped, needed to be entirely redrafted with a different focus. I took some time off. Finished revisions. Did a lot of not writing. 

    And now I’m back, with a new book, and I’m sick with just how badly it sucks. Physically ill. I’m losing brain cells writing it. 

    Thing is, this is normal. 

    This is how it’s supposed to be. 

    For me, at least.

    This is how I feel with every book I’ve ever written–a truth to which three years of writing-blogging can attest. 

    Memory is a funny, fickle little monster. I say this because I remember the books I’ve written, but I don’t really remember writing them. 

    Even the last book, which I turned in not even a month ago, is a blur. A scroll through my text messages show that not thirty-six hours before I sent the book back to my agent, I was texting my friend Liz, telling her all about how I could not fix my book because it was an unfixable mess, and did she know how to break the news to the agent and editor waiting for me to figure my shit out?

    From unfixable mess to polished and turned in. In a day in a half. And hell if I know how that happened. 

    So realistically, based on past experience, I should not be sick over a shitty first draft. I should look at it as part of the process, and trust that no matter how shitty it is now, in a month, it will be less shitty. And in three, it probably won’t be shitty at all.

    And instead of dreading the imperfect pages, I should embrace them, close my eyes and dive in, make as many mistakes as I can, while I can. Because if ever there was a time to make them, this is it.

    This is my challenge for April. This is my challenge for always. 

    Do the work.
    Trust the process.
    Let go of imperfection. 

    Stop trying to write a book.
    Just tell a story.

  • laurenmorrill:

    ohryankelley:

    Done is better than perfect

    (via: Startup Vitamins)

    The rule of first drafts. Remember this, NaNoWriMo-ers … but also remember that for the second draft (which you should do and will do if you ever hope for anyone to read it other than your mom), Perfect is better than Done, ok?

    Source: startupvitamins.com

  • Q&A: What’s the most you’ve ever written in a day?

    Anonymous asked:

    What’s the most you’ve ever written in a day?

    I’m going to tell you a little story about The Perfect Day.

    It was in December 2005. I was home sick with the flu, or at least that’s what I’d told my boss. I don’t actually remember if I was sick or not, only that I’d called in sick, and given my work ethic in 2005, it could go either way.

    (Oh, who am I kidding? It was more like 60/40, in favor of lazy over sick.)

    Anyway, I was home and in pajamas and I managed to crank out something like 45 pages. 

    It was kind of awesome.

    But of course when you have a day like that, you kind of start using it as a stick by which to measure all other days. And so, almost ten years later, I find myself thinking back to that day and wonder what I did right then and what I’m doing wrong now.

    The answer, of course, is that I did nothing “right’ then and I’m doing nothing “wrong” now. There are so many factors involved in that freakshow of a day, factors that will probably never align again. But still my subconscious won’t let it go. 

    So there’s your answer. Most words in a day: 45 pages. 

    But it’s also worth noting that those 45 pages? Complete and utterly useless. They got deleted on a first pass edit. I’m sure there was something I learned from those 45 pages that eventually found its way into the book. But the pages themselves? Not so perfect after all.