Sit & Write #145
Greetings friends!
I just attended my first session of novel writing class and am super excited/nervous to dig back into "Haunt," (working title) which I began drafting in 2016. I was hesitant to bring it into a workshop environment, but was reassured when I heard how many other students had written partial drafts before starting over. When you work on a project in isolation, it's easy to lose perspective on what's normal and what's an indication of imminent failure. Every obstacle starts to look like a flashing road-work sign warning of catastrophic sinkholes.
This is the best thing about writing classes and workshops and groups, in my mind: the reassuring presence of fellow creatives mired in literary problems of their own making. I always get resentful of success stories that downplay the struggle. I want to hear about how many millions of revisions were made, how many beloved characters were reimagined, how many chapters found their way into the digital recycling bin. I want to know…