So…I’m supposed to be working on the third draft of a short story, but here I am.
I thought about writing all day at work today, mentally mapping out scenes and constructing dialogue. Then, when I actually got home, all I wanted to do was, well, anything else.
My story and I have been acting like two backwards magnets lately. I open the word document, but when I start to type, I seize up.
Sentences aren’t forming the way I want them to and so my motivation evaporates.
I suppose the obvious reason for this is because I am nervous about starting from the top again. I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes I made with the first and second draft. However, I’m afraid that by restarting I will consequently change everything that was good about the original manuscript.
I’m worried I will create a margarine story. It’ll just be a blah with no personality.
I’ve run into this issue before. In some cases when I attempt to fix a problem, I usually make it worse or correct it only to feel like I’ve removed part of the story’s charm.
I guess that’s what beta readers are for. Nonetheless, I like to wow people with my epic story-telling abilities so it’s difficult for me to let people see my dirty underwear.
Good luck to all of you and your writing projects.
Don’t stay up too late.
The Crooked Pen 