Revision struggles

[janradder]

Just about two weeks ago, I started work on the third draft of Immature Loser Punk. It's been an odd two weeks, at least in terms of the speed at which I've worked and how difficult a lot of the writing has been. The first draft I really just breezed through. I'd sit down and just write. There were a few rough patches where I sat in front of the keyboard and had trouble getting the words out but, for the most part, it was pretty smooth sailing. The second draft was essentially cleaning up the mess of the first draft. It was hard work, at times, but still, like the first draft, I seemed to kind of plow right through. Working on this third draft, that's definitely not the case.

For the past two weeks, I've been stuck on the same forty pages. A lot of the time I just sit and stare at the pages in front of me, pen in hand, not sure what I should write or what tack I should take. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to dig a stump out of my backyard as I search for the right words. It's been a struggle. At the same time, I feel like this has been a really successful revision, so far, even though I'm only forty pages into it. A lot of the work I've done has been important -- I've been adding pieces to the narrative that are essential to my story but that I'd never included in either of the first two drafts. But it hasn't been easy.

Maybe this is all just normal, though. I've never undertaken writing anything even close to this length before and on top of that, I hadn't done any serious writing in about ten years (or more) so quite a bit of this has been a learning (and relearning) process. I feel like I'm on the right course and that if I keep at it, I'll be happy with the results. But I really hope I finally get things right on this draft because, right now, it's definitely kicking my ass.

Comments

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Thanks!