I’m at that phase

[pjthompson]

Of thinking my novel-in-revision sucks the suck monkey’s toes. I’ve been cutting and fixing, but I think there’s plenty of mess left over. I want to see if I can cut at least another 2k before throwing myself on the mercy of my betas.

No matter how promising a novel starts out, it always reaches this despair stage. But that’s probably a good thing. Otherwise, we might love them so much we never wanted to let them go.

And every novel must be let go—and not just in the sense of “If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If not, track it down and kill it.” Oh wait, that’s not how that goes, is it?

Well, letting go means never having to say you’re sorry.

Wait. That’s not what I’m trying to say, either. What I’m trying to say is that letting go of a novel is about liberating yourself to work on the next thing. I am so ready to work on the next thing.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.