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Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Great Unfinished Novel #IWSG

It's hard to believe it's November already. Time is slipping away at a rapid pace. For many writers it's NaNoWriMo time. Not for me. Not this year. While I am working on a story that would have benefited from the intense November writing challenge, I just can't take on another pressure. And I'm ok with that.

This month's IWSG optional question is, Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project?

I have taken the challenge three times and reached the 50 000 word goal each time. However, I 'finished' only two of those projects.  That is, I got to the end of the stories and even went through the rewriting/editing stage. They read like real novels. Gasp. Am I completely happy with them? Not so much. They need more work. No longer the spring chicken beginner writer, I learned more as each year passed and came to realise that my old writing could be better, the characters could be more interesting, the structure could use an overhaul. The longer I hold on to those early novels, the more doubt I pour over them. What I really need to do is let them go. What does that mean? Either I need to push them aside and call them a great learning experience, or the better option: I need to complete them and send them out into the world.

If only I had more time. Focus might help a little too.

How about you? How many finished/unfinished writing projects do you have lying around? How many do you hope to get your sticky hands on again for another rewrite?

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