The joys and frustrations of writing...
I spent the entire day yesterday at my keyboard. Yes, I had Facebook and my email open and reduced in the background. But I was working most of the time. Writing can be hard work! I have rewritten and revised my first book chapter at least a dozen times. I'm still not happy with it yet. I keep reminding myself it's a rough draft. It will be a draft even after I've finished the whole book. But I can't move on until I am at least satisfied that chapter one is as good as it can be at this point in the process.
I have several friends who are reading my progress and offering me such helpful feedback. I laugh at myself as I send replacement files (with my edits) quicker than they can open their email. One of my email subject lines was "don't laugh..." I've got to come up with a system for this of sending a revision only once a day or every other day. I don't want to wear them out!
What's so great is that I am getting different kinds of feedback from each of them, which is incredibly valuable to me. Not conflicting, but different types of comments and helpful insight. Different angles. To those of you who are doing this for me, you know who you are and all I can say is THANK YOU so much. I am already indebted to you.
I have always wanted to write this book. I have no idea how long it will take me. I agonize over every word being just right. And another thing I agonize over is not wanting to hurt or upset people. John told me he could see it in my writing. He said, "You are trying so hard to be nice, aren't you?" I am. I intend to tell my story with as much love, grace and kindness as I possibly can. And my prayer is that it will be a God honoring finished product in the end. Otherwise, I will throw it in the trash.
There is a lot of tension involved in this process. I wrote just a little bit about my mom yesterday and the emotion overwhelmed me. It was as if I was losing her all over again. You really do relive what you're writing about. And I have such vivid memories going all the way back to before I was even a teenager.
I have been pretty consumed by my writing efforts this week and since I know several of you check my blog regularly, I just wanted to let you know that I'm making progress. The hours just fly by when I'm writing and I lose track of time. I even forget to eat (which is not a bad thing).
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!
I have several friends who are reading my progress and offering me such helpful feedback. I laugh at myself as I send replacement files (with my edits) quicker than they can open their email. One of my email subject lines was "don't laugh..." I've got to come up with a system for this of sending a revision only once a day or every other day. I don't want to wear them out!
What's so great is that I am getting different kinds of feedback from each of them, which is incredibly valuable to me. Not conflicting, but different types of comments and helpful insight. Different angles. To those of you who are doing this for me, you know who you are and all I can say is THANK YOU so much. I am already indebted to you.
I have always wanted to write this book. I have no idea how long it will take me. I agonize over every word being just right. And another thing I agonize over is not wanting to hurt or upset people. John told me he could see it in my writing. He said, "You are trying so hard to be nice, aren't you?" I am. I intend to tell my story with as much love, grace and kindness as I possibly can. And my prayer is that it will be a God honoring finished product in the end. Otherwise, I will throw it in the trash.
There is a lot of tension involved in this process. I wrote just a little bit about my mom yesterday and the emotion overwhelmed me. It was as if I was losing her all over again. You really do relive what you're writing about. And I have such vivid memories going all the way back to before I was even a teenager.
I have been pretty consumed by my writing efforts this week and since I know several of you check my blog regularly, I just wanted to let you know that I'm making progress. The hours just fly by when I'm writing and I lose track of time. I even forget to eat (which is not a bad thing).
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!
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