I’ve made lots of writing mistakes on my path to publication, but the worst to date is rewriting too much. Why? Long term fine tuning to make a book work because you love the characters, because it’s the best writing you’ve ever done, because you’re too stubborn to quit, and so on, and so on, and so on, becomes an insidious, self deluding waste of time. Say again? WASTE OF TIME.
Why? Because too much rewriting keeps you from writing new stories. Keeps you from feeling fresh and snappy and itching to write. You won’t have time for lengthy revisions once you’re published and you will be expected to crank out a book or more in a year.
If you’re pre-published you have as much time as you want to allow to write your story. Not so once you get published. I have newly published friends who are caught up in a whirlwind of deadlines and promotions they had no clue about until they were published. You need to know what works, what doesn’t and how to write as efficiently as possible. To quote Cherry Adair, “If you can’t finish the damn book in a year, let it go.”
So tone up those writing muscles, work hard then give yourself a short revision time and move on to the next story.
Love much, laugh often, live well,
Swan Mama signing off
Tags: author moms, books, Debbie Swanson, empowerment, fiction, motivation, plot mamas, romance, romance novels, Swan Mama--Fridays, writing, writing mistakes
I can’t agree more! Constant rewriting doesn’t help, espeially not for me. I need to have a break. I’ll go edit, I’ll start writing a different book or create a 2000 word short story. The last thing I want to do is become sick of my current project and I also need to let it breathe. If I become to rigid in my behaviors I notice it in my writing.
Great post!
- Ermisenda