Wednesday 4 February 2009

Perseverance or Obstinacy?

I'm having a bit of a 'what on earth am I doing and is there really any point?' day today. They do tend to come around at least once a month (funny that!) or more frequently if something pops up as a knock back on the writing front (in which case I wallow for a while and then decide to get over myself and get back on with it). 

Until it passes I've decided to take a step back from the ms I'm editing to send off the RNA's New Writers' Scheme 
http://www.rna-uk.org/index.php?page=nws In case my current mood leads me to press delete just a little too much (like the whole ms!)
Instead I shall get on with all the boring stuff I've been putting off and come back when I'm able to be a little more objective.

To perk myself up I typed 'Don't give up writing' into google and read some really nice articles. I've put the link to one below:

Jill Smolinski "Don't Give Up On Writing That Novel" http://www.articlecity.com/articles/writing/article_1370.shtml

Right, now I'm off to do the ironing ;-)

5 comments:

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

I think you're right to take a break just now - you need to be in the right frame of mind to tackle any editing. I've yet to get motivated to even start on the major rewrite my ms needs before I can send it off to the RNA.

Hope you feel better soon.

:-)

Lorraine said...

Thanks Suzanne,

My aim is to beat the rush in August so I've got a bit of time. I do think it's great that they run the New Writers Scheme and intend to take their report fully on board before submitting to M&B again.

I had a six month wait to be rejected last time so want to be sure it's my best work going off :-)

Jackie Ashenden said...

Definitely a break is in order. Enjoy your wallow - because everyone needs a wallow now and then - then forget about writing for a couple of days. You'll feel better for it (says Jackie who is hopeless about taking her own advice) :-)

Joanne Coles said...

Awww bless. I think you need lots of Krug champagne and posh chocolate. Then in a couple of days you will be desperate to get back into your work. I think editing is by far the hardest part of writing. I really thrive on seeing my word count growing.

As for the title of your blog - perseverance and obstinance? I think both are needed to be successful and as a fellow Leo lady I know you have both!

(Yes, I have been cyber stalking you on Trish's site to find out your date of birth. You are 16 days older than me exactly!!)

Jo xx

Lorraine said...

Thanks guys. Actually just one day later and I'm already itching to get back to the ms. Just a day off is all you need sometimes.

I'm not too keen on champagne myself - but tea and jaffa cakes did the trick just as well :-)