Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Waiting for the Uumph.

Not sure I spelt that correctly, but have you ever dilly-dallied for so long that you crave a little uumph? A shove into productivity?

Sometimes it comes in a stern talking-to from someone you love and respect. Sometimes it comes from a flippant, hurtful comment by a loved one. And sometimes it just evolves from the seemingly never-ending struggle to succeed. And other times it comes from discovering a little nugget hidden in someones blog post.

I've been going in circles with altering the opening of my original novel--the novel that made me want to become a writer in the first place. Dreamer, I've always been, but until I wrote that first story in twenty-seven days I'd never really thought of embarking on a writing career. Anyway, I read a post yesterday that sparked an answer to how I could fix that opening. Plain and simple, I need to do a POV shift. Now, why didn't I figure that out months ago?

I'll probably never know. But just maybe it's God's way of teaching me patience and perseverance. It's all in His timing, after all. (An I'm in no way implying that I think this fix will make my ms ready for the market, just that it's one more challenge I've personally met on this very long journey.)

So now that I have something to work toward, I'm back into novel #1 with a vengeance, no more twiddling my thumbs on this one. Tell me, what fixes, simple or otherwise, have you come across that give you that burst of energy to start climbing again?

Blessings,

Eileen

2 comments:

Jessica Nelson said...

Yay! Have fun changing it up. A pov shift could def. change the tone of the first chapter. I'm with you. On my first manuscript I think my opening may stink, but have no clue how to fix it.
Yet. :-)

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Thanks, Jessica. I really hope this is the answer!