~ UNSATISFIED ~

You’ve heard the saying ‘you can’t please everyone’ and it’s important to keep in mind when living the writing life. If you are lucky to gain a following, you’re sure to have your detractors. What if your biggest detractor is yourself? Don’t get me wrong. I love my characters. I love my stories. I think there comes a time when the story overwhelms me so much that I’m sometimes left unsatisfied even as I type the final word. Is it because of the rewrite? Or the rewrite of the rewrite. No, it’s the rewrite of the rewrite of the rewrite that gets me. That must be it.

I’m sure when I have children of my own someday I’ll endure a similar myriad of emotions as a writer who has birthed a story into the world. Each story I write is like one of my babies. I nurture it, sometimes smother it with good intentions, but want what’s best for it. I hope that when it goes out into the world that everything will be okay and that it can stand on its own (or maybe in a series. One can dream. ;-)) I think the pang of being unsatisfied is closely linked with its cousin, perfectionist. I don’t want a perfect story. I want a story that has its ups and downs. Of course, the only flaws a story should have are character flaws. Anything else needs to be nabbed before it gets published. Is not being satisfied because you suddenly want to change something or think there’s still room for improvement? Like any child, there comes a time when you have to let go.

Still, I think I’ll never be a fully satisfied writer. I consider it a good thing because it’ll keep me hungry to continue crafting stories but humble when those that I do write go off into the world and mingle.

Hmmm… unsatisfied with the spillage of my inner monologue, I at least have the good sense to include my #ROW80 MID-WEEK CHECK-IN with the blog entry rather than in the comments section. Score one for me.

1) Blogged A through U for the A to Z Challenge.

2) Words counts up to yesterday are as follows:

Camp NaNoWriMo – 60,969 words as of Day 23
Savvy Authors Boot Camp – 57,719 words as of Day 23

There are a couple of challenges in May and beyond that I’m considering, but I’ll look into them further and post about them in Sunday’s Check-in. Until then, many more scenes to unfold in both stories but I’m glad I’ve surpassed my targets. I almost rewrote one of them from scratch, because apparently I’m just unsatisfied that way. Fortunately, I held off. That’s where revisions come in. For now, and always, it seems, I write. 🙂

=8=

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