Dirty Work

via

Usually after finishing a novel and reading it for the first time, a writer is seeing the world through rose-colored glasses.  Or at least seeing his book that way.  It has so much potential, it could be a NY Times bestseller with a few grammar tweaks, and oh, that one line of dialogue is so funny that it gets the writer in stitches every time.

But after a while of this, the rose-colored glasses get uncomfortable, the lenses fall out, and then that one line of dialogue seems dumb and incredibly shallow.

Creativity makes a good writer a good writer, but when I - oops, I mean, a writer - is thinking about his manuscript, it can turn out to be a bad thing.  Creativity balloons problems to twice their normal size so I - sigh, I mean the writer - can't get in and figure out what really is a problem.

*frustrated frown*

So, you can probably guess where I am with Seaspear right now.  Of course I'm very happy that the first draft is done.  And there are several things that I'm very pleased with - like the way Prince Cyrus's character turned out, and a certain pirate captain.  But my dad took off my rose-colored glasses and brought several things to light that need a lot of work.

I'll keep working.  The first draft is only the beginning.

"Writing the first draft of a story is like giving a wall its first coat of paint.  You always hope that the wall won't need another coat, just as you always hope your first draft won't need many revisions.  But just like with that coat of paint, you're always wrong." - Me


- Ellyn