Feeling a bit better now

One of the affirmations I say to myself when things aren't going exactly my way and I'm being too hard on myself is, I forgive myself for being human.

I spent a whack of time in 2010 just focusing on trying to love who I am a little better and one of the things I realized, as I said in my last post, is that I beat myself up pretty bad when I'm not working at super-human speed.  This is pretty terrible considering that I never work at a super-human speed because, well, I'm not super-human.  So being angry at myself for it is like being furious for not having the ability to shoot metal claws out of my knuckles to shred drafts I'm not happy with.  That's why I came up with the above affirmation.  So when I get down on myself for not being good enough (another one of those human traits) I repeat the phrase and actually feel that forgiveness.  It helps me breathe a little easier so I can remember that being human can actually be kind of great.

Oh Chapter 9, you just want all the attention...

Remember when I dove into my rewrites?  Well now that's me, below there, swimming through Chapter 9.

I'll let you know when I get somewhere.

Mistakes are opportunities dressed up like Freddy Krueger

The read-through is done!

This may not look like lots of pages 

but just to let you know they were double-sided.

I can’t believe how long it took me to get through this though.  I’ve read my drafts before in one day but it took me six days of work, including a full Saturday and one Sunday morning, to get through everything because of all the notes I was making.

The good news? I don’t hate the thing.

The great news? I think I know how to make it better.

Still, despite the good and the great, the best part is that I feel REALLY EXCITED about getting back to work on revisions for the next draft.

None of the changes I’m making are to the story really – not at this point.  Sure there are a few aspects I’ve decided to tell differently but most of all I’m making structural changes and one other big change – which I’ll let you know about in another post.

What have I learned about my writing process after reading this draft? 

Mistakes are the best thing that can happen to you.

Really.

I had to do things wrong to learn how to make them right.

One of my favorite authors, Kristin Cashore, mentioned something about this recently on her blog (bullet point two).   

Mistakes aren’t things to forget.  They’re not things to be embarrassed about.  Mistakes are all you’ve got to grow from. 

They can be your greatest gifts if you let them. 

What’s the best mistake you ever made?  

p.s. Yes I'm so freaking grateful for my writing mistakes (maybe not right away) but this post isn't my new weekly gratitude post.  That one's coming so stay tuned!