The night before a big day, I don't get to sleep. Because whether I'm excited or dreading it, I just want the hours to pass by faster. It's a good thing I don't have Adam Sandler's fancy clicker from that movie everyone hated, or I'd be fast forwarding through all the good stuff.
Life and writing are about the journey, right? Not the destination?
Now that I'm a plotter more than a pantster, once I get a new novel loosely plotted, I want to skip to the end. I want to fast forward and start revising, of course I can't do that because the dang thing isn't written.
And what's with the all the really cool contests online? I want to play! I really do. I want to participate in first page critiques and secret agent contests and pitch contests. But I don't have a finished book (we aren't even going to talk about novel number 1, which is finished, but not worth the paper it's printed on).
To add insult to injury, whenever I think of the word patience, I think of this song from my childhood, and it gets stuck in my head. Earworm Alert: Don't listen unless you want to hear this darn turtle sing for the rest of your life. Or maybe that's just me. If you do listen, wait for the turtle and try not to laugh.
I've always heard to keep your stuff underwraps until it's done, and polished and ready to go. Because you never know what could happen. So I'm patiently waiting and then trying to focus on what's important - finishing my novel(s). I'll get there. Eventually.
What's your take on it? Do you reveal your babies before they are ready for the limelight in that contest you've always wanted to take part in, or do you wait, knowing your day will come?
Patience is sooo damn annoying and overrated!! JK. I suck at it too. We can start a fanclub.
ReplyDeleteI'm in.
DeleteI wait! As hard as it is, because it's too easy to throw out excerpts online. We all love feedback.
ReplyDeleteI definitely wait. You don't want to put your work out there until it's ready. I had an agent request to read my work after reading the synopsis I had on my site, and it was the hardest thing I had to do to tell her that it wasn't finished yet and that I was hoping she'd be able to wait. I soooo wanted to send her the first 50 pages. Sigh. Suppose I'd better get back to writing ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video, babe. Incredibly timely. Started gettin' all verklempt about halfway through Herbert's chorus.
ReplyDeleteLet's both vow to take the batteries out of that remote control. (It only muddies things up, anyway.)
Just for the record, I believe in the steady spirit behind the words on this blog.
Suze - I'm so sorry if that song is stuck in your head. Had you heard it before? I had the record (oh yeah) and spent hours listening to it. Hours.
DeleteI don't always feel steady in spirit, but I keep aiming for that calm self-assuredness I admire in others.
I guess I'm the opposite. I love writing the first draft, in all its messy glory. But when it comes time to edit and revise, I drag my feet and procrastinate because its just not fun. I won't let it out into the wild with anyone but my CP's and Beta's before I feel its absolutely the best it can be. Like they say, you only get one shot at a first impression. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you. It's so hard to be patient and go through the whole grueling process when all you want to do is let the little darling out of the gate and see if it can win anything, see if it's the ticket to fame and fortune (or maybe just a supportive rejection from an agent). I let my first and second darlings out too early. With this one, I'm being patient and obsessive about everything. It's exhausting...
ReplyDeleteWe can cheer each other to the finish and the big reveal. :)
DeleteIt's painful to wait, but I am a super cautious person when it comes to sharing my work, so I always wait to send/enter contests until it's in the best possible shape. But I'm also pretty competitive, so seeing other people sending/entering helps push me toward that point! :)
ReplyDeleteI know just how you feel about all the contests around the interwebs - I always want to participate in all of them, but I've learned the hard way that you really should wait till you're actually READY, with a product you feel is ready for that sort of attention. I had an agent interested in one of my novels because of a one-line pitch I wrote on one of these contests, and while I didn't win the contest, or even get a place, the agent (a really big, fancy one too!) contacted me privately to request some pages. But I wasn't ready. She did give me a lovely compliment, but I still wish I had been more ready ;) Or maybe I just wasn't ready for her. The fact remains though that only my first 5 pages were "ready", after that, not the whole novel (which is in rough draft form).
ReplyDeleteI've done both. Usually I get into trouble unveiling babies too soon. It's hard, though. If you have a group of early readers, sometimes that can take the pressure off. YALitChat has that First 5 forum that's helpful for stuff like that!
ReplyDeleteGOOD LUCK with your new baby!!! :o) <3
I wait. I don't like sharing my crappy first drafts. But I know what you mean, there is a lot of cool stuff out there I would love to participate in.
ReplyDeleteYou'll get there. And I can't wait to hear about your newest WIP!
*sigh* I know. I'm so bad at waiting. I should channel all my angst into writing.
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