First Drafts & Revisions: It's Okay to Make a Mess

As some of you may know via Facebook, I've been going through some kitchen renovations. Most experiences lead my strange brain to writing and these renovations were no different.

My kitchen BEFORE

This is what my kitchen used to look like (minus the clutter). Now think of this kitchen as the first draft of a manuscript. It doesn't seem so bad. Everything is in its place. The sink, the oven, the cupboards. Does it all work? No. My oven should've been committed to the ground a long time ago. The range hood made a horrifying sound as if it chewed on nails before it spat them out. The sink was vanishing under rust, and the doors were threatening to fall off every time I opened them. So, while this kitchen looks complete, it's far from it. So too with first drafts.

DURING the renovation

First drafts need to be worked over. They often need to be ripped apart and put back together again--especially drafts born from unplanned ideas. Even drafts that come from detailed outlines need to get messy before the writer can produce magic. Sure we could paint the old tiles, we could disguise the ugly with pretty words, but more often than not we need to get into the nitty gritty. We need to pay attention to the details and not skim over dodgey sections in the hope that no one will notice. In renovations it's the details that make all the difference. Same with writing a novel.

The crazy thing is, renovators know before they begin a task to expect the dust, the rubble, the hard work. They know they have to make a mess before they can make magic. Writers, for some reason, tend to shy away from the mess. They place an unrealistic pressure on themselves to achieve perfection on every word they write. If they don't reach perfection, or something close to perfection, then they think they are hopeless writers, that their project will never be good enough.

My kitchen AFTER

Well, that's malarkey. Mess is good. Mess gives us the freedom to experiment, to try something new, to make space for something better.

What gives you the courage to make a mess with your writing? Have you been tempted to pass over the details?

NOTE: This post was written for Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers' Support Group #IWSG. I've posted early because there's been a death in the family and I have a lot of travel to do for the funeral. I'll try to do some blog visits before I leave, but if I don't make it to you, then I'll be back next week and will catch up then. 

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The Backworlds Book 2 is Out!

The sequel to The Backworlds is now available. Craze and his friends continue their adventures in Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge. See what role chocolate plays in the galaxy this time.

The interstellar portal opens, bringing in a ship that should no longer exist. A battleship spoiling for a fight, yet the war with Earth ended two generations ago. The vessel drops off a Water-breather, a type of Backworlder thought to be extinct. She claims one of Craze’s friends is a traitor who summoned the enemy to Pardeep Station. A betrayal worse than his father’s, if Craze lives to worry about it.

Available for all ereaders from:

Amazon / Amazon UK / B&N / Smashwords
iTunes and Kobo will be available shortly.

If you haven’t read The Backworlds yet, it’s available as a free read from many outlets. See HERE for links.

Inspiring the words M. Pax writes, Mary spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the husband unit and two loving cats. She writes science fiction mostly and has a slight obsession with Jane Austen. Mary blogs at http://www.mpaxauthor.com/blog/
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A big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my guest post at Rachna’s Scriptorium: How to Trust Yourself as a Writer. It’s still up if you haven’t yet visited.

What role do you think chocolate should play in the galaxy?

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How to Trust Yourself as a Writer

Today I'm over at Rachna's Scriptorium with a post about ways you can trust yourself as a writer. I'd love to see you over there.



A big thank you to everyone who shared an early childhood memory in the comments of my last post, Inspiration and Serendipity. It was so awesome reading all of them.

An article I wrote titled Bust 4 Myths to Gain More Writing Time has earned my blog a nomination for a Fascination Award: 2012's Most Fascinating Creative Writing Teacher blog. How cool is that?

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Inspiration and Serendipity

When I was young my dad was a pilot. He wasn't the cool kind of pilot I could brag to my friends about. He wasn't a commercial jet pilot, a fighter pilot, or a stunt pilot. No, he was hobby pilot who flew light aircraft. That meant being crammed into a flimsy 1950's style Cessna that stank of diesel, and the whole plane would shudder when the ancient propellers got started. It meant it took forever to get to a destination. It meant getting stranded at airports in the middle of nowhere while we waited for the weather to change. These airports often consisted of nothing more than broken-down sheds with little for a bored kid to do. It was a real treat if the place had a snooker table. I learnt to play snooker at an extremely early age. I also learnt to be open to new experiences—that took a bit longer.

At one such place, the weather was scorching hot. We were—yet again—stranded somewhere in the outback of Australia while we waited for a storm to pass our destination so we could land when we got there. We drank homemade soft drinks (soda pop) from recycled bottles and played snooker with one of the locals in a tin shack that was missing a wall. The land was vast and dry to the horizon, and the sky stretched out into forever.

I remember having a philosophical discussion with the local as the flies buzzed around in the heat. I would've been no more than seven at the time. I wanted to know how he could know that the red snooker balls he saw were the same colour I could see. For all I knew, I was seeing green, which everyone had labelled red. It took a while to get across my meaning and I don't recall any satisfying answer, but it made me think deep thoughts for the first time as I pondered our individuality and tried to work out my place in the world.

I'm still working that last one out, but I believe the experience became the seed of my writerly mind. Did I appreciate it at the time? Absolutely not! To this day I have an intense dislike for the stench of diesel. But I have some amazing memories I wouldn't have had otherwise—of the people I met, of the places I visited, of landing a plane on a beach because the island my dad wanted to visit didn't have an airport.

Every experience we have is food for our creative muses. Every experience plays a part in moulding us into the people we are today. What are some of your special memories from your early childhood that stand out in your mind?

Photo: I took this photo in the Northern Territory of Australia many years later.

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New Release: Crux by Julie Reece

I wanted to introduce a new release I'm excited about. Crux, a young adult novel by Julie Reece. It's described as a paranormal romance and I'm looking forward to reading it. Below is a little more about the story:

She should have run. Now, she’ll have to fight.

Eighteen year old Birdie may be homeless, but she’s surviving, that is until a mysterious guy throws money in the air like a crazy game show host and she grabs some with the idea she’ll be able to buy dinner that night.

In that singular moment, unassuming Birdie becomes the girl in everyone’s viewfinder. Thugs want to kill her. Money-guy wants to recruit her. The very hot, very rich and very out of her league Grey Mathews wants to save her.

Birdie, though, wants nothing to do with any of them until she realizes fate didn’t bring them all together.

Her heritage did.

Now, with only twenty-one days left, she’s got to decide whether to follow in the footsteps of those before her or risk her life for people she’s only just met.

Sounds great, doesn't it?

You can find Julie via Twitter, Facebook, and her Website.
You can find her novel via Amazon, Goodreads, and her Publisher.  

Are you excited by this novel? What other great new releases do you want to read?

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Congratulations: A huge congrats to Laura Diamond for getting a publishing deal for her young adult paranormal romance, Shifting Pride, with Etopia Press. And, for the acceptance of a short story as well! Happy dance!!

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