So I had my crisis of confidence - which was resolved thanks to you folks on here. Then had a bit of an OH MY GOD moment when I realised how my second draft was - well let's just say it was short of the old 120,000 word minimum (as written in another thread. THEN read the thread about how hard it is to survive on a writers "salary".

Never-the-less, I am starting writing my third draft tonight.

My story is ironed out and sorted. My writing plan is down. My characters are there. So now all I need to do is just sit back and see what comes out of my head and through my finger tips. Oh and ignore the voice that whispers to me "God you're going on a bit there aren't you? Wind ya neck in and end ya chapter".

Wish me luck folks, and think of me around 7pm as i sit down and write my first sentence of draft three (which by the way is pretty much solidified in my head).

(Hmmm I should probably add here that draft three is - I guess - draft 1 because in writing 1 and 2 I have learnt that there was a mountain of changes that had to be made and so, well I'm kinda starting from scratch but with old friends. Crazy? Maybe - but it looks like the best way forward for me.)

Good luck

short of the old 120,000 word minimum

Do you mean maximum?
Anywhere between 80-120K is fine.


- NaomiM

Good luck.

As Ann Lamott says, shitty first drafts are what writers write, so they can write good second drafts and terrific third drafts.

Terrificness ahoy!

Emma

Okay so I put my hands up. On Monday night when I had made this big post here on the forum and all I got home and thought, "I simply can't be arsed. It's cold and I'm tired I would rather just chill and start tomorrow."

But God did I whip myself for my laziness. All night long I was telling myself in my head that I should be writing now!

Last night I had maybe an hour before my other half got in. I'd been mulling over my first sentence for hours so I thought I'd just get that out and then I can say I've started.

But one sentence followed another, then the delete key got hit repeatedly and another sentence got written, before the delete key was hit again.

After an hour I had 600 words and a hungry other half wanting dinner so I saved it thinking, "Is that a scene?" and left it.

But for the rest of the night and this morning I've been mulling over what I wrote and thinking. "Delete the lot and start again, or not?" I was kinda rushed last night and not "In the zone" so I have a very strong impulse to delete and ignore my writing ghost until the weekend when I can have a really good crack at my story - devoting two whole days to it rather than three dark hours.

Any opinions???

Well, we're all different. But I'd say, leave it, and go on from there, otherwise you'll be writing your first 600 words forever. If you're very clearly aware of how it could be different, make a note about that to come back to when you revise.

It's actually perfectly possible to write decent stuff when you're not in the zone: I've written whole chapters that way. It's less fun, more effortful, sometimes like pulling teeth, but they're still perfectly good first-draft words. If it's only tweaking it needs, you'll do that better later, when you know more about the rest of it. If it's radically wrong, you'll know more about what's right later, when you know more about the rest of it...

Emma

<Added>

If you really can't bear to go on from there, don't delete those 600 words, just start again on the line below. This is first draft, rough stuff - if you were me, it'd be longhand, full of scribbles and interlineations and balloons and chunks written on the facing page. Just because the text on screen LOOKS perfect doesn't mean it has to BE perfect!

My stuff always takes several redrafts before I'm happy with it, so I would say save it, rather than delete it, and either rework it until you are happy with it, or, as Emma says, write on from there - write yourself up to a point where you are happy with it - otherwise you could just find yourself stuck on the opening pages.


- NaomiM

I kind of redraft as I go along. I like to write knowing that it's probably fairly pants, but get it down anyway. Then the next day I look at it, keep the stuff worth hanging on to, and redraft the rest before moving on.

It's just the way that I do things. Then again, I'm odd.

Best of luck,

S

Lots of luck, sounds as if it is coming together. I do loads of drafts and rewriting, but that's me and none of them are 120k words, so am full of admiration.

All the very best.

I'd say keep it and move on! Go back to it much later, when you've got into the flow and rhythm. I'm sure it'll amaze you how much easier it is to know what's right and wrong with it then, as opposed to now.
Sounds as though you're having trouble with that fidgety, just starting, can't settle down bit. I hate it! My writer friend and I talk about the 'monkey on our back', who keeps chattering incessantly and leaping around the room, distracting us, not letting us think or get into the zone. But the more you sit at your desk (or on your sofa or wherever you write!) and the more you get into it, the easier to control the monkey becomes! I'm sure at the weekend, you'll be able to shut him firmly outside the room!
All the very best,
JC x

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I have to say, I started again. It felt like the right choice for me, and I have to say it worked out brilliantly.

I sat down on Saturday, took a deep breath and spent the day (ish) writing. I finished at around 4pm with over 3,000 words down. Brilliant.

I was utterly knackered but it was so worth it.

I have to admit I didn't write on Sunday as i had planned, cos Saturday took it out of me. Still, I have broken the back of Draft three and am looking forward to a few more weekends in the near future doing more of the same.

Oh, but I won't be starting again, again :-D