Ooh, a new fancy blog to post my nonsensical ramblings on. *rubs hands together* This should be fun.
Um, not sure how to fit my bio in here nice and smoothly, but here it goes. Better get the niceties out of the way first. J
I’m a 24 year old stay at home momma of two boys…so yes, my house is loaded with testosterone and I have no idea what to do about it! Not to mention all the milk we go through in just two weeks. (8 gallons, BTW)
I’ve been writing in my head since I think I was born. My siblings thought there was something wrong with me whenever they caught me having conversations with myself. Thankfully, they didn’t disclose this to my hubby before we got married, so he’s stuck with my insanity.
That should be good right? I’m really not that interesting. So onto my post!
Ironically, when I received Nicole’s email about a guest post, I posted on my blog about Brain Farts, and that’s exactly what happened to me. She said I could post on whatever I wanted, and I thought, ‘Yes! I’m going to post the most inspiring and beautiful message ever! I’m going to encourage those writer’s out there to push through it all and they’re gonna want to click off their browser and write the best story ever!’ Then when I opened up Word, this is what happened.
Uh…
So inspiring right? Doesn’t it just make you want to frantically type away?
Yeah…me neither.
So how do we push through these moments? What do we look for when we feel at a loss? Sometimes what is needed is a small break. Time away from our work so we can gain some perspective. Sometimes we need to keep writing. Challenging ourselves to grab the squeegee and clean up all the muddied thoughts up there. And sometimes, even when we hate this answer, we have to REWRITE EVERYTHING.
Can I tell ya a secret?
Well, I’m going to anyway. J
My current WiP was one of those overhaul moments. It just wasn’t working, but I knew there was something there. It took me a long time to realize it, being stubborn and lazy because I didn’t want to rewrite an entire story when I’d already spent so much time on it. But, It. Wasn’t. Working!
So I grit my teeth, and tried something new.
I changed the POV. I changed the age. I changed the genre.
Originally, the story was told from the heroine’s perspective. There were several elements that seem so bizarre to me now, I can’t believe I even saw the story that way. Now it’s in the POV of my hero, and Hallelujah! I found my voice! And the story became so much stronger, and that heroine of mine went from someone who was probably very annoying to a beloved character.
It got me wondering what holds us back sometimes. For me, I was afraid of losing something very precious, and a lot of hard work, but in the end I didn’t lose any of it. I gained so much more.
So, I guess my advice to us all would be, and this goes for everyone in every stage of the process: Don’t be afraid of the rewrite. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to do something that may cause you to rip your hair out by its follicles. Try it. If it doesn’t work out, then oh well, but you may turn up with something much better.
You never know, right?
Love it Cassie 🙂 I'm up against a little writers block right now so this is a great post for me. Thanks!
Great advice, Cassie! I agree about being flexible. That's the key. Nothing is set in stone until it's on the printing press.
Thanks Angie and ER!
I'm needing to do that for my first novel…and I'm working up the courage. I'm sure its gonna get messy! Nice post Cassie…nice to meetcha! 🙂
I started Stephen Pressfield's The War of Art yesterday, and was reading all about resistence, which is what fear is, and which often stops my flow of writing. I agree whole heartedly that the best thing to do is "Just Do It" and clean it all up after the fact. Thanks for the reminder that things can get better with a little shake up, it doesn't have to get worse!
I need to do that with my first one too DL. It is a lot of work, but totally worth it!
And I think I need to read that book Lara. Sounds like a good one!
I'm guilty of being lazy these days. Thanks for the inspiration. I must get back to my "fiction writing" and get a draft banged out!
Thanks for the cute inspiring post.
Thank you Diane! I'm guilty of being lazy most days, lol.
And thank you Desert!
Glad to know I am not the only one who sometimes does not know what to say! It comes eventually, but it sure does take its sweet time!
Thanks so much for linking up to our blog hop this week on Love U! I am already following you but like to stop by and thank you for your support as we are still so very new to blog hoppping. We won't have one next week as my co-host is getting married and she is taking next week off. Hope to see you the following week.
Mary@http://www.mmbearcupoftea.com
Great advice, and I hope you'll understand if I REALLY REALLY don't want to take it–I hate rewriting! But I do it too, although you'll usually see/hear me kicking and screaming as it goes. It usually does make the best stories, though!
I love the rewrite, so much so that sometimes I rewrite the first chapter over and over and again and never get any further. Sigh, we all have our issues.
Great post/ advice!
TToria
xo
http://ttoria.blogspot.com
mmbear: I get stuck way more times than I'd like, lol.
Jennifer: I know what you mean. I feel like I've written 10 different novels with all the same people!
Nancy: Lol. I like rewriting the first chapter, because I always wonder how it would affect things if I started at…for example a park instead of homeroom? 🙂
Thanks TToria!
My son is a young writer at:
http://www.storieswithzach.blogspot.com
Please give him a word of encouragment! Thanks!
So many writers are afraid of rewrites and I just don't understand… Sometimes that's just what it takes to make your story exactly the way you want it – you know, perfect. 🙂
Great post Cassie!
Lacey
http://myinner-i.blogspot.com/
http://updownin-n-out.blogspot.com/