Retrospective

Insert Sad Trombone Sound Here

So … this isn’t working.

I have the next chapter ready to go, but the act of going back and editing is draining every drop of joy that I found in doing the original writing.

That’s no bueno.

I tried this method because it is what has historically worked for me in the past — prep the chapters for posting, keep to a schedule, and bam! Accountability + reader excitement = wordcount.

Actual Writing Cycle

* I write until I hit a problem with multiple solutions.

* I obsess over potential solutions, trying to find the best one.

* I write the solution, making my way to the other side.

* By the end of the chapter, I’ve found some flow and joy in the words moving forward.

* I submit the chapter to external eyes (Perry, who is awesome and who I very much thank for his time!)

* The chapter comes back with comments, some of which point out areas where the image in my head and the words on the page don’t quite match up.

* I revise the chapter, fixing the things I can and noting down alternate solutions that would require that I alter previous chapters, which I cannot do.

* I get the post up for readers.

* I start writing the next chapter until I hit a problem with multiple solutions.

* … rinse, repeat.

The amount of time spent in FLOW and JOY is far too small before I go back to picking the writing apart and hating every piece of it.

Instead, I’m spending 90% of my writing time stressing out over what become mediocre chapters to offer to you guys for reading.

Try, Evaluate, Change

I am a firm believer in the “try/evaluate/change” method and I finally feel like I’ve given this particular method enough “tries” to evaluate it as Definitely Not Working.

This last chapter went from happy-glow to gut-churning-unhappiness too quickly to be an accident.

So. “Try” and “Evaluate” are over. Time to change and try something new.

What Does This Mean?

No more Gryphon’s Feather posts for a while.

Probably not “never” — I believe in the characters and story, it’s just my own self-confidence that’s shot.

So for a while.

I need to spend more time in JOY. I don’t think I can do that while I feel the need to apologize for everything I post.