The Mystery Starts Here

I am wandering around my house, starting at walls, trying to figure out what to do for the next hour, day, week. Why? I finished the first draft of novel number ten today and now I feel lost. After so many weeks of writing a minimum of 1000 words a day - I have nothing to do. I want to print this glorious manuscript out and rush it into the mail to the person at the top of my agent list, but I won’t. I won’t because this first draft is crap. They all are. They sound fine when I’m writing them; coherent, fast-paced, full of conflict and wonderful characters. But the truth is - it’s crap. So I will leave it alone for at least two weeks, a month will be better, maybe longer. Then I will re-read the manuscript and start the first of what will be many revisions.

So after I finished the last of my 78,000 words this morning, I closed my computer, read a book for a while, walked the dog, read some more and took a nap. I was tempted to turn on the television but…it’s Sunday, do I really want to watch a golf tournament? I’m lost and have nothing to do until I have to start making dinner.

Oh, I know I can write short pieces while I wait for the manuscript to stew in my computer and I will. I have several in mind. But not today. I have other books to write too, but I don’t want to take on another big project until this one is finished. I have notes for book 11 and ideas for two others. No, for now I will try to put this book out of my mind, stop thinking of cleaver lines for the characters to say, quit writing down plot twists at midnight on the pad of paper next to my bed, push the whole thing to the back of my mind. Tomorrow I’ll start a new piece of writing to fill that month while I wait. I have to because after all, I’m a writer and that’s what I do, I write.

Early in my career, I belonged to a critique group that got together twice monthly. It was great for me as a beginning because, I really didn’t know what the heck I was doing! Oh, I took classes, read books and wrote and wrote and wrote. But the beauty of a critique group is feedback. Your fellow critiquers can spot those spelling errors, those holes in logic and wacky character discrepancies. Yup, they’re great for that. I learned a lot from my first group – we all did because we were all beginners and we helped one another. And there lies the rub.

Be especially wary of groups that are harsh in their judgment. I’ve heard of more than one writer who gave up because of the group’s cruel criticism and stopped writing. That’s sad. So if you find yourself in a group that’s not working for some reason, quit! Don’t worry about hurt feelings. This is your career we’re talking about! Find another group or start your own, but for heaven’s sake, don’t stop writing. One thing that has always puzzled me – and maybe someone out there in cyber-land can help. Why don’t men join critique group????? I’d really like to know!