Etc. – End of Thinking Capacity

Well, I’ve done it.  I’ve finished writing my second novel (or shall I say manuscript, seeing as I have yet to be published?).  Let me rephrase: I have completed this version of my book as much as I can without getting a second opinion.  It may be utter garbage (I hope not; I kind of love it), but if I read it again I will go crazy.  So it’s off to the editor with you, brain-child.

And now for a little re-cap:

I began writing this book over two years ago, but it took me less than a year to write all told (I neglected it for a few solid months).  

In the process, I spent quite a bit of time doing what a writer does best: staring at the wall.  I excuse myself by quoting James Norman Hall: “Loafing is the most productive part of a writer’s life.”

Naturally I struggled with insecurity.  After all, “the worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”  Thank you, Sylvia Plath.

Also writer’s block.  As Terri Guillemets says, “writer's block is a disease for which there is no cure, only respite.

So I stared at the wall some more.

And then I realized I must write, despite it all.  According to Sinclair Lewis, “it is impossible to discourage the real writers – they don’t give a damn what you say.  They are going to write.”  After all, there’s nothing to it.  You just “sit down at a typewriter and open a vein” (Walter Smith).

Once finished (writing, not bleeding to death), I reread the thing over again and the process of review just about killed me.

How to Write: Pinned from Here

 And now I’m going to print it, bind it, and give it to my lovely editor.  Who I know will be kind, even if she must tell me that my novel is a poorly-written first draft with a sorry plot, a pathetic cast, and a pitiful ending.  Thereby saving me from the embarrassment of trying to find an agent for my sorry little mess.

At which point I will begin writing a new book.   It will be “a novel about a beautiful yet sensitive author whose spirit is crushed by her domineering editor.  Do you like it?”   (Shaffer and Barrows.)

Le Sigh.