What I Wish I'd Known

I started this summer with great plans: a schedule of jobs for the kids, time to practice school stuff, and a way to cut down on the TV viewing, Wii playing, etc. And while I still think those things are still important, I got to thinking last night about how I might feel differently in the Fall. Would I wish I'd been less rigid, because once school starts things naturally have to be more structured? If my future self could talk to me now, would she say "let your hair down a little this summer?"

Then I started thinking about my writer self. What do I wish I'd known back when I first started writing? If I could talk to that girl then, what would I say? I think I would tell her to enjoy the writing journey even more. It's harder to write now - I like the end result more than the writing of it, but back then, I was more into the process.

What would my future writer self tell me now? (Like on The Office when Jim sends Dwight faxes from Future Dwight!) I hope she'd say that publishing is closer than I think and to not give up - the dream will be realized. I think she might say again to enjoy the journey, the process, a little more. This is the time in my career when I can write what I want, explore, hone, and take the time.

WIP & Painting

My hubby and I recently updated our kitchen cabinets to blue-gray and added hardware. It took a lot of paint to cover up the old oak grain and two coats to make the cabinets look great.

The first time through with the paint, we were most concerned with getting the color on and making sure there weren't any major drips. We knew the second time through we'd polish things up. If we took too long on that first coat, the project would take even longer and we might get burned out too soon.

Same with my WIP. I've done both the edit-as-you-go method and the slap-down-the-whole-thing-first method. Right now, I prefer the latter. I want to get everything down, taking care not to have major drips -- like plot holes, motivation issues, etc. Once I have that "first coat" then I can go back and work on the parts that didn't stick so good, where the "grain's showing through," and eventually make them great. That way I have a complete manuscript to work with later and I stay interested (at least enough to keep writing) in the project.