You’re the Writer

   I wanted to share with all of you last nights and tonight frustration. This is a perfect example of why I gave up the first couple times when trying to undertake the daunting task of writing my first novel.

   There is a time sometimes when your manuscript becomes frustrating. It is times like this that I have to take a day or two to take a step back.

   I was reviewing some of what was written, and thought,
   “Jesus, the is the most terrible Dreck I have read! Shit did I really write this?”

   So I took out my pen and started correcting what was written thus far. I noticed several things when reviewing my work.

  1. I use several words as crutches and use them far to often these words include,
   • I
   • It
   • Begin
   • Begain
   • The
   • Look
   • Again

   2. I often created to many short and choppy sentences that can be made into a longer sentence.

   3. More is less. I often have extraneous words that don’t need to be there. For example,

“She felt like she was going to cry. Tears begain to stream down her face.”
It should be….
“Tears stream down her face.”

Why? It’s a little redundant. Don’t you think. Of course she is going to feel like crying before she cries. Do we really need that information? I think the readers can figure out how she feels. Because isn’t that the way anyone feels before they cry?

4. The more I write, the more mistakes I continue to find. So, hopefully the next 10,000 words will need less editing, now that I am learning what mistakes I make as a writer.

5. Oh and punctuation. I use far too many commas.

   This is by far the most challenging task I have ever undertaken. As frustrating as it can be at times, writing is a fun challenge.

  I am driving my husband crazy, talking about my fictional characters, and the flaws they have. Trying to breathe life into them. By the time I am done with this book he will be sick of it because I ask him things like,

“Does this sentence seem ok? Or do you like it better this way. No no wait that doesn’t sound right. I need to take this out. There does this sound better now?”

   These are seriously the arguments and dialouge I have with myself, and my husband. Then he gives me this advice,

“You’re the writer. You figure it out. You can do whatever you want.”