Revisionism

Writing can be immense fun. It can also be challenging, draining and, just occasionally, utterly dispiriting.

I'm in the middle of the sixth draft of my second full novel, and have gone through all of those stages on this one draft alone. Ideas, sentences, character beats and imagery which seemed just right in the last draft can suddenly seem hopelessly leaden, trite or just plain bad.

On the flip side, it's easy to be surprised and delighted by little turns of phrase or ideas inserted in haste which seem so fresh and inspiring it's hard to believe they came from your own head.

It's a treat when that happens, but, sadly, it happens rarely: The writer's curse is to approach every writing session ready to be pummeled by his/her inadequacies - whether that's a lack of inspiration, loss of confidence in the material or a nagging feeling that things just aren't working the way you'd like. The trick is to push ahead, regardless. If it doesn't work, make it work. If it does work, see if it can work better.

That's the crux of the matter: Once the initial throw-it-all-down-on-the-page draft is done, every writing session is about grabbing the material and making it better, one letter, one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one chapter at a time. It's a marathon, not a sprint - except that the finish line in this marathon leads right back to the start, so you can do it again, and do it better until it's just right.

Onwards.