the end.
Today’s update is a short one - I finished the draft of my friendship love story!
If you’re a writer, you know that the completion of a draft is a funny thing. Yes, it’s a big accomplishment but it’s certainly never the kind of weight-off-your-shoulders relief of I’m done! you’d expect for finishing such a big project. I mean, I (re)wrote 60,000 words! You’d think I’d feel more of a sense of accomplishment, but instead all I think about when I type the end at the end of my Word document is how many things I still need to go back and fix.
For now, though, even if I don’t feel like it, I’m going to act like I accomplished something big. I’m not going to touch my draft for a bit, let it “simmer” (in the words of writer friend Brittany Fagan-Steele) and return to it later to dive into revisions.
I could take a break from writing altogether now, but I actually feel energized to write at the moment and I’m definitely going to take advantage of that. After being stuck with one project for so long, the idea of being able to work on anything is exciting. I could journal! I could do some freewriting to any kind of prompt! I could go back into old drafts of things and see what interests me (the tropical setting fantasy I drafted a while back is calling me…)!
Along with creative experimentation, I want to do some more writing community/workshops again. When I was working on publishing this is a love story, I was really intentional about going out to book launches and writing events, and really enjoyed getting to know people and work on my craft. I miss it! Last month, I did make it to Ariel Gordon’s book launch for Fungal. It was lovely to meet some people and listen to Ariel talk about mushrooms, writing and how she’s built her writing community.
How do you treat yourself when you accomplish something big? What questions do you have about my writing or goals right now? Reply to this email or share in the comments, I’d love to hear from you. :)
Happy July! xo
Alyssa
I really want to go to more writing meetups and events and write with others more! It is always so much fun but time gets so busy hahah
I have yet to ever write the words "the end" at the end of anything I have written, while I have decided that this or that poem or short story was done, I have never finished an entire project or considered it complete enough to re-draft. Well, there is one exception NaNoWriMo 2012! I wrote a first draft of a book but I don't think I wrote "the end" at the end? I was already thinking about the next step and it never felt like an end or new stage?
I need to write more to get there faster, to this point of having a finished project! x) Sometimes it does feel like I may never get there x) As such, I also haven't really rewarded myself for any project I have worked on?