I’m smack dab in the middle of a large project right now,
the third draft of a high fantasy novel that’s already over 115K and at the
rate I’m adding words may well finish at 150K. It’s taken me three months to
get here and will probably take another six before I have a polished
manuscript. To put it mildly, it’s proving to be a slog.
I think there’s a real temptation while mired in the middle
to start dreaming of quitting. That shining vision that inspired me to give
this manuscript another go has long since faded and other ideas beckon
alluringly, promising that they are the next bestseller, not this terrible mess
I’m currently wading through.
Three things keep me going.
Stubbornness. I think this is a required trait to be a
successful writer. I am more stubborn than those beckoning voices. I will
finish this manuscript.
Experience. I’ve lived through this mired-in-the-middle
feeling before and persevered. In fact, I’ve gone on to publish work that I once
despaired over.
Improvement. While many bits are still far from the shining
prose that I aspire to, I can see improvement in the work in tension and
complexity since the last draft. I have to remember that’s what I’m aiming for:
improvement, not perfection. Perfection will always remain just out of reach.
What keeps you going when you’re stuck in the middle?
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