Let It Go: Writer Edition

Last year, one of my primary goals was to finish working on my cyberpunk YA book and start querying it. In 2013, a professional butchered edited it. I learned so much about writing through that edit and I felt I was finally ready to push the book forward.

Halfway through the edit, I hit a snag in my world-building. It took me several months to think my way out. I dove back into the book and got a solid crit on what I had rewritten so far…only to realize that my pacing was off. I’ve blogged on Anxiety about running into these all through the process. The frustration was building, the sense of expectation I had placed on this tory being “the one” to put me onto the marketplace had become a crippling weight on my creativity.

Source

So I let it go.

An idea exploded onto the scene in November and begged me to take it and run. “Look! I’m a shine new idea!” it said. “I don’t have years of baggage, expectations, or multiple and alternate scene ideas that will make you struggle as you plot. You get to make all new characters, serve up new adventures, build in a world that will fit your style so much more than the story with antiquated ideas about technology that you are trying to modernize. Pick me!”

So I did.

I’m working on outlines and character profiles, building my backstory and science/magic systems that I want to be using. The ideas are flowing, ready to be formed into the overarching story. I haven’t felt this kind of freedom while writing in a very long time. I’m hoping it lasts long enough to allow me to meet my goal this year of publishing at least one installment of it.

Do you every find yourself as a writer weighed down by all the ideas you’ve had in the past for a story? Where all the scenes you had in the formative stages of planning are battling it out to get on top? How did you deal with it?

I want to return to my cyberpunk story some day. I love all my characters and their story arcs. The main plot struction and worldbuilding are still lagging, despite spending a year working on them. But, for now, I’m letting it rest and forgiving myself so I don’t drag the guilt into my future projects.

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