[A closeup of a small morel mushroom among blades of grass in an unkempt lawn.]
Oh, what a month it has been. Last week was the first week since early March in which I did not have to work at least one 10, 11, 12, 14, etc. – hour day. This week I am on vacation, working through my vast backlog of tasks, chores, and errands. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
April was National Poetry Month, and I made a better showing that in the past few years, with about a dozen first-drafts of poems added to my journal. One or two of them even show promise, which is statistically pretty good.
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group question for May 2025 is:
Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?
My greatest fear is a writer is that, despite all the drafts of books, short stories, essays, and poems which fill my hard drive and countless old journals, I will never actually complete any of them to the point where they can be considered for publication.
While it is true that if I have time to write a new story I have time to edit an existing story, I easily and repeatedly fall into the trap of believing that I need a guaranteed minimum of X consecutive, uninterrupted hours to even attempt an edit of even the shortest of short stories. I can mull over new work in my head when I am e.g. walking to work or driving to the store for groceries. The new stuff doesn’t need to be written down write away, and much of the creative process is subconscious.
But editing is not the same. To edit requires singular focus.
I am aware that there is no such thing as a perfect moment for specific work; or at least such moments are rare enough that they might as well be snipe hunts. Adequate time is good enough. I understand that in my head, but I don’t yet understand it in my heart.
So there it is: For want of an hour, the manuscript was lost.
One of my goals for my vacation is to print out a large pile of first-drafts which I can carry around and edit by hand in my spare moments at work or sitting around the house. While not ideal, it is much better than staring at the television with a vague feeling of unease as the days turn into seasons and the pile of possibilities turns into compost.
Happy May, everyone. Write well!
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and supporting insecure writers
in all phases of their careers.
I agree that it’s much easier to shoe-horn in the drafting process, writing in waiting rooms or in your head while walking (I work out a lot of my plot problems while walking) than to edit. I do like to work in big chunks so I can keep it all fresh in my head (that’s actually also true of drafting, which I can now do). But I think your idea of printing the stories out and carrying a few around is good. It may not take as much time as you think to edit a short story! I finally learned to write in small bits, usually at the dentist’s office and such like, while waiting for my kids. Now I have the luxury (many days) of big chunks of time, and I’ll not deny it’s better.
No such thing as a perfect time. We do it when we can or we make the time.
There’s an excitement to the writing process, whereas editing feels not just like hard work, but dour & dull. Oh maybe that’s only me. Either way, I empathise. I hope you’ve found/are finding some stretches of editing time during your break.
Debs posting today from Fiction Can Be Fun
Also found at Debs Despatches