Switch It Up

Chances are, if you're revising a completed first draft of a manuscript, you're going to start feeling burned out. It can be difficult to stay motivated and focused, especially when other projects call for your attention. Here are a few suggestions I have that I hope will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

1) Pray. Don't forget to reconnect with the Lord, who's the reason you're motivated to write this book anyway. If you lose your connection with him, you'll start feeling like what you are doing doesn't matter. Look to Him and the Bible for encouragement and affirmation.

2) Do something fun. Check Facebook for a while, or look at a few ebay auctions. Maybe you can find something that would be cool to write about.

3) Change your surroundings. If possible, go on a weekend trip. If not, go to Starbucks. A change of surroundings makes the world of difference in terms of reframing your perspective.

4) Have a friend look at your manuscript. There are only so many plot holes you will be able to see, because this book is your baby. A good friend, on the other hand, won't hesitate to tear it apart and tell you what works and what doesn't.

5) Stop overloading yourself with information. Getting ready for conference season, I've been trying to educate myself as possible lately, and finally struck a breaking point where I realized there was no physical way to internalize all the information the internet has available to me. Don't get so bogged down researching that you stop doing what's more important: writing.

Hope these tips have helped you. Do you have anything to add?

Kill Your Darlings... and Your Contentment

So, whoever came up with that whole kill-your-darlings bit was a smart person.

You've undoubtedly heard it before: if you love a line in your WIP so much that you can't imagine deleting it, you probably need to.

When I first heard the saying, though, I have to admit I was skeptical. Probably because I felt like it erased any ability I had to objectively critique my work. If I thought something was good, who was to say my judgment wasn't good enough?

Well, let me tell you, after hours of macro-editing my WIP over the past few days, I have been converted. I have deleted entire scenes that I once thought were brilliant. And you know what? The new stuff is way better.

I think what happens is not that we suffer from some inability to accurately perceive our own writing as good or not good (although that might be true sometimes too), but rather, that whenever we think a passage is particularly strong, we become content with it.

Contentment in writing is a dangerous thing.

It keeps us from pushing forward. So yes, maybe your "darling" really is outstanding, but if you delete it, you'll leave an empty space that pushes you toward something even better.

After all, you wouldn't want to delete one of your favorite lines, only to substitute it with something lame.

Something to think about.

Do you have any examples of how this principle has worked in your own writing? Have you been hesitant to "kill your darlings," even when you had a gut feeling they weren't bettering a passage?