Drawing a line in the sand

I’m finding it hard to get into the groove.  I suspect I haven’t been in one for a while, but I am writing, and the stories are coming together.

My biggest accomplishment for this year was writing getting both final drafts of two books soon to be published to the editor.  Now NANOWRIMO is a distant memory, it’s interesting that it seems to be the only time I can truly focus my mind on writing.

As usually happens, the creative mind is organised and the ideas and words flow.  I know it is supposed to be raw writing, but it works for me.  And as in recent years, by the time I get to the end, a lot of stuff at the start needs to be fixed, especially in light of plot changes and continuity, and there’s been time for some of that too.

Now, looking at a recent piece of writing on the screen, I’m trying to decide whether it will be finished or I’m going to add to it.

Perhaps that’s my biggest fault, I can’t draw that proverbial line in the sand and say, definitively, the end.

Perhaps I should give that a few more months before I work on it.  It was one of the contenders for this year’s NANOWRIMO project, but there’s another more pressing that I decided to do.

Then there’s the sequel to What Sets Us Apart, called Strangers We’ve Become I’m writing.  The progress of this over the last year highlights my prevarications.

Here’s the thing.

It was done and dusted, and I did a final read before handing it to the editor.  That was a mistake.  I seem to be one of those writers that can’t let it go.  I should not have done the final re-read!

I don’t know if anyone else has the same problem, but as soon as I had finished it, I had a feeling (oh no not one of those feelings, I can hear the editor saying) and something was not quite right.

I hate it when I am in one of those moods, and looking at it, I could see where there was a problem and began the re-write.  The problem is, it affects later on, so there are going to be cuts and additions.

But, finally, the line had been drawn.

It’s been sent on its way, publication is looming, and I’m now preparing for the next project.

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