The joys of having spent thirteen years writing stories and slowly developing my writing skill is the constant catch up and backlog of stories. There are soooo many stories I want to get my poorly circulated typing fingers on but in the words of my wise and wonderful mother, "one thing at a time, Steven."
I still have not learned such wisdom, but at least in this situation it's just one writing project at a time. Never mind that I'm also doing one full DND campaign and one mini campaign, a writing group, a board game night twice a week, and twice a month at the weekends, and trying to be the best friend I can be. Writing this I ponder what's wrong with me. My health stuff is so savage and yet I proceed to walk the cliff edge like some adrenaline junky, knowing if I lose my footing everything must go on hold for weeks, if not months. I don't seem to be able to fully stop and rest until one foot is over the edge and I'm about to fall, or actually falling.
But, oh well, these are the choices we make. Like the choice to delete the two hundred word rant/tangent I wrote that had nothing to do with writing, books or creative endeavours. Time to focus a bit.
I have attempted a couple of creative projects since my last update, aka editing my story Empiphany, submission of a novella, and selling hoodies with my doodles on.
Empiphany edits didn't go so well. The story needs to have the structure demolished and rebuilt from the foundations up. I look forward to doing this because there are a lot of exciting ideas and I will be able to do that story and characters justice. It's tough having written such stories over a decade ago and having to admit destruction is often part of the creation process. It will be a year or two yet, but I look forward to returning to Empiphany.
My novella was super close to being published, but I was told it needed a little more editing than the five that were chosen. Missing out is tough, but the publisher and one of the editors said they would happily go over it in the future and get the story edited. That was lovely and sweet.
The hoodie project was so cool. However, some of the product quality ended up being below the standard I wanted, which was so upsetting. I have put this project on hold for now but will resurrected it at some point. Thank you to those who supported by donating money and buying a hoodie.
So, yeah, lots of 'failure' but all part of the process. I never see them as failure, but experiences to grow from and improve. The only hard part is knowing I've let people down at times with quality of product. It weighs heavy on me. I hope to continue to improve so the quality is to a high standard.
And here I am in 2023, working on the current project. The Heart of Nature is being edited for hopefully its finally time. It is going super well. My editors have both been incredible. To have such talented writers/editors onboard with my projects is humbling. The editor I'm currently working with has got us to chapter four of thirty super quickly, and the flavour of the story has already become so much more tasty. I have always struggled with world building, but my editor is highlighting places I can add little things and I'm loving it. And to have chapter four end with my editor saying, "Really good chapter. Not much needed at all" was one of the best moments of my life. A slight hyperbole but not too far of the truth. I know I'm still not an amazing writer but I know my stories are fascinating and intriguing. They deserve to be told and I want to be worthy of them. To know my writing is at least improving is a relief. Sure there will be chapters ahead that are the opposite of chapter four and need ripping to pieces, but it's nice to know I'm becoming worthy.
The next few months of editing will be lots of fun, but also no doubt exhausting. But I feel the end is in sight. To have The Heart of Nature as a finished story and physical book is going to have me sobbing with joy.
