Still Rewriting…

…and I’m finding that rewriting is turning out to be a lot like my NaNoWriMo 2009 experience—that is, one portion of the rewrite will take SOOOO long that I’m convinced that I’ll never make my deadline (January 15th, to my critique group), and then the next five chapters will whiz forth as quickly as I can pen them. Which rekindles my hope that somehow, miraculously, I might finish rewriting and polishing the nearly-200 pages remaining.

Gack.

But that brings me to my point (one you’ve probably heard before, but one that’s good enough to bear repeating):

TRUST THE PROCESS

I think that when you write a story, you’re crafting an iceberg of ideas. The bulk of the story hides beneath the surface; the actual words and chapters form only a small portion the writing work.

Put another way, sometimes when it seems like you’re not getting anywhere, you’re actually building a solid-but-unseen foundation for the rest of the story.

So: will I finish the rewrite in time to hand it out to my crit group on Friday? Only time will tell. But I know enough to know that it’s impossible to predict, because at any point the story may take off and write itself.

:-) Cheryl

PS: If you know how to make that story-taking-off-and-writing-itself thing happen, please let me know ASAP!!!