What have I learned today?

Besides being an avid reader and TV junkie, I want to be a writer.  A published writer to be exact.  I know, what’s the difference.  Um, hello?  The published part.

With that said, I’ve been doing this for 2 years and have learned much along the way.  Yet I have nothing published to show for my late nights writing or my weekends staying indoors to finish a scene.  Or my countless emails to a writer friend about style and writing and the latest on The Good Wife. 

And sure, I’ve been down in the dumps about it, especially when I got a mean beta back from someone a year ago.  (Yeah, I don’t communicate with her anymore.)  Yet, I’m still chugging along, cranking out paragraphs and stressing over my word count and always wondering if my MC would do that. 

Recently, I finished a YA paranormal novel that I started last November.  I brainstormed this baby to death and when came time to write, I was so excited I couldn’t wait to get it all down on paper (or computer).  I’ll be honest, I had some road blocks and life took up a lot of time but I finished and I re-read and edited and then offered it up to the highest bidder.  (Not really, but you get the point.)

Within like 2 days I got input back from a new beta I was using.  I read for her before and it went well and I asked if she could return the favor.  I don’t remember her exact words but the message went something like this: “OMG, Yeah, send that puppy over *jumps up and down*”.  She’s awesome BTW and she has musings too!  (Today she has posted an awesome blog.  Check her out at http://blog.juliealindsey.com/.)

She had only gotten through the first 50 pages and had to stop because she saw a lot of the same mistakes and would rather I go over it again, using her tid bits of writer knowledge, and then resend it to her.  I won’t lie, I was upset.  Sure, I didn’t think I had written a perfect MS but I thought I had done well enough to forgo re-editing.  And I wasn’t mad at her.  She was doing what I asked (and way nicer than the previously mentioned beta!).  And actually, her advice was amazing!  I mean, I got it. 

So I pouted for like 5 minutes, pulled myself up, dusted off the negative attitude and vowed to get it right, the 3^rd time.  I have a good story but I need to work on the grammar.  And as much as I would love to have someone else do the writing part and me be ideas woman, not gonna happen.

So the moral or the story is never give up.  Half faith in yourself and in your MC that you can tell their story.  It might take a lot of revisions, but it will pay off in the end.  Just like our good friend Dory, "Just keep swimming..."