A New Beginning

A new beginning has dawned!... but just like every day it follows a similar pattern... And yes that pattern is once again i'm doing a serious edit of the Book of Prophecy.
The question is WHY!!?? Like seriously... WHY!!??

The answer has it's roots in some events that have taken place over the last two weeks. These events are as follows.

-My friend and fellow writer Sammy knows someone who has some pretty awesome skills in the technical side of writing and story telling.

-Last wednesay I began working with him on the b.o.p because we believed it needed more work... Well a lot more work.

-Yesterday we stopped working together.

Here's the story in a bit more detail.

So work began last Wednesday and it was painful for many reasons. One being I was so desperate to make it work I spent hours upon hours staring at the screen editing. For those who don't know I can only do about two hours a day because of eye pain. When I do more it hurts a lot, and I did a lot more.

I pushed through the difficulties that were emerging and together we came up with what I believe is an epic first chapter (in a way I see it as a new beginning).

Over the weekend we started chapter two. However it was beginning to be clear the editor/ writer relationship was not an easy one. View points were not in harmony, and style of both learning an teacher were very different. There is no criticism in that statement- certain things were just different.

I went through chapter two and applied what I was taught and what was suggested, while keeping the book the way it needed to stay. I thought I had done a good job and that with a bit of his editing chapter two continued the new sharper style. Of course it was not perfect but much better. Long story short it wasn't what he was after and I realised that his suggestions for extensive world building were not exactly what I thought the purpose of us working together was. We both agreed working together was not going to work if we had different goals for my work. Therefore yesterday we stopped working together.

Im taking the last week as a really positive experience and as always I have learned so much.

The plan is to take what i've learned and make it sharper the way he showed me and it will be the best it can be, while still keeping the style I think is appropriate the integrity of the story. Again that is no criticism, I just have to stay true to the stories roots.

The next few months are going to involve a lot of work, but i'm used to that after 2 and a half years of writing, re-writing and editing.

When it's done I'm hoping I can get some peoples opinions on it because I think there will be a substantial difference. Whatever happens I will be very happy with it after this edit- aka rip it apart and put it back together without waffle and with a little more world building. Time to work hard... Again :D

The Beautiful and Painful Process of Progress

This is a quick update to say that there are exciting things happening.

On Wed the13th I began work with an incredible Editor and although ripping my work apart is painful, the process of putting it back together turning it into something beautiful (how this all came about will be made clear in the future). As for now there is a lot of work ahead, but words cannot express my gratitude for the help I am receiving from many source.

The Struggle Within

It is clear that my blog updates are becoming very  infrequent and I feel bad because I haven’t been as committed to it as I want to be. I would like to be able to say it is because I have been busy, or distracted still, but I cannot. The distraction mentioned in the last update was awesome, but it did not go as well as I thought it would, in fact it crashed and burned epically. All is good now though and there is nothing I regret from my choices, everything that has happened served to help me to grow the way I need to. I am just so enthralled by every experience life gives me because I feel like I learn more about myself, and life, every day as a result of these experiences (Sorry for the ambiguous statement but I try to keep this about writing and not about the dramas of my life but sometimes it just creeps in) .

That said the reason I have not updated the blog, or written anything in a while, is because I have lost a lot of the motivation for writing that I once had. The struggle to be the best I can, and be good enough for readers, is far greater than I ever imagined. I was so naïve at the start of this project to think that by just having a good story it would be enough. I have learned I was an idiot and so ignorant to the struggle that would occur, both within myself to keep going, and to accept that I am not going to just get success over night. 

This inexperienced perspective has nearly faded and I am glad it has because now I can focus a bit better on realistic goals and how to achieve them. I owe so much to so many for gradually helping me see this perspective and especially to my friend, and fellow writer, Sammy HK Smith (although she will always be known as Starbuck to me). I'm thankful to her for so many things but do not think that my thanks is given because she plays to my ego, or gives me false hope. It is because she sees the potential I know I have and because she can be amazingly honest, yet always objective, which is what I need. Another reason I’m grateful to her is because she is a much better at writing and therefore is teaching me so much, and again this is what I need. It feels like she is my master and I her Padawan J.

Ultimately I feel strongly that the reason I stopped writing this blog, and writing in general, was not really because I have not gained the success that I want, but because I feel like I have improved as much as I can with out having someone to take me by the hand and guide me in the specific ways I need to improve. That is why I am so grateful to Starbuck. Her willingness to help me and guide me is humbling, and is truly appreciated. The truth is she could be doing a thousand other things (seriously she has so much going on her life that I’m in awe daily of how she does it all). Obviously she is not a perfect writer, but she is far better than I am, yet she is still doing everything she can to improve and learn while helping others. This is one of the reasons writing is fantastic because those who do it will learn so much if they are willing to, just like in life. The key is that learning never stops if we understand that it never stops.

All of this said I now feel ready and able to take my writing to the next level and I know with Starbucks help this will happen, as long as I work hard. I’m also excited for a small project that she has asked me to write and I will update on this in the future, and on other writing projects, obviously.

The struggle for motivation, improvement etc, will still continue, but that’s the point, it has to be a struggle for us to improve, other wise we would stagnate and not reach our potential. At least that's what I believe and have seen in my own life and in the life of many of the people around me.