Have you ever done something so badly that you look back on it, and wonder how it even happened?
In the first book of my sci-fi series, I had one chapter that I was dreading getting to in the editing phase. I knew when I wrote it that it was pretty wonky, but I figured I’d take care of it later.
Well, “later” happened this week. It was TERRIBLE. I was changing perspective every two or three paragraphs, rather than showing one character’s perspective per chapter. It was long-winded and clunky all at the same time because there was just too much going on. Too many cooks, so to speak.
There’s a reason that you never, ever, EVER send your first draft to a publisher or agent, and this is certainly why. Some things are better off swept under the rug, or buried in the back of the closet, where you can forget you ever wrote them. Lol.
I genuinely don’t know what I thought I was doing. Lol. It took five hours to fix that chapter. Just that chapter. Partway through, I was ready to pull my hair out. I had to rewrite the whole thing from one person’s perspective, obviously, and ended up having to break a chunk off of it to attach to the next chapter (in the perspective that chapter uses). It was a mess.
*deep sigh*
But it’s done, now. I can move forward without that monstrosity of a chapter hanging over me like a massive thunderhead.
After that, I got another chapter written, and made a decent amount of progress with the editing. I’m so close to getting back to writing the other books in the series! It’s so exciting to be moving forward with it all.
And, of course, there was time spent with family for the holiday.
I hope you all had a fantastic time with your own families. Happy New Year, and be safe.
Keep reading. Keep writing.
Later.