My roller coaster day

I had two goals this weekend: First, I wanted to get through edits on Will ‘O the Wisp, Second, I wanted to finish a book I’ve been reading.

It’s another bachelor weekend, and it sounded realistic. I never got to the story I’m reading. I wonder if all writers go through this?

I started at 7:00 this morning. I was part way through the edits, but the document was 193 pages long. Let the horror of that statement sink in for a bit. Okay, they were electronic pages and the numbers change depending on how I hold my iPad, but still…

God, I suck! Why did I ever start writing?

God, I suck. Why did I write this piece of garbage?

I don’t think this rule is right?

Spend three hours with The Purdue Owl, and other sources. Some of the rules are flexible. They’re more like guidelines, Arrrggghhh.

If the rule is flexible, I like my method.

Oops, I was really wrong here. God, I suck.

Consistency, consistency, consistency; even if I’m consistently wrong. Do I suck at this?

Wow, that was a good passage. Go back and read it again. That was the opposite of suck.

Oops, I’m supposed to be editing, not enjoying the story. I mean, I know how it ends.

Put a comma in, take a comma out. I hate rules.

Did I really think that up? That was really creative. Keep reading.

Back to the editing. This isn’t so tough.

Read three chapters and really enjoy them. God, this is a good story.

I hope people will read this, it’s really good. Back to editing.

Doh! How did I duplicate a chapter number?

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Editing is like being a character in one of my stories, only without bullets and hair loss.

Back to The Purdue Owl. Okay, I’m wrong.

This is the best story I’ve ever written. I’m a rockstar!

It’s 7:00 PM and I’m finished. I took an hour break for a sandwich, and to sandblast my eyeballs. I’d like to get back to the book I’m reading, but I don’t think my eyes will let me.

I am so grateful to the person who helped me with this. I’m more of a big picture kind of guy. Plot and characters are more appealing to me. The microscope work is not my forte.

Sure, I have to read through it again (more than once), and another friend offered up some structural comments that should really help. Still, I’m happy. This is going to be an awesome story, and it’s suitable for young adults. I’ve never written one that I thought was completely safe for the younger crowd.

Maybe I’ll tackle my reading tomorrow, but I have an appointment with Smaug and Bilbo in the afternoon.