Wanabe Writers #10

Wannabe Writers is a weekly event held by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-Published.

Where I am in the writing process: I crossed over into a huge milestone: I passed over the 50,000k mark! I am so proud of myself for sticking with it, even through those weeks where all I was turning out was drivel. I've also thought out a clear path how to get my characters from where they are to the conclusion of the book. The path they were on before was a bit meandering, and I wasn't sure how to get them there, but I'm sure now!

My current problems: Finding time to write. This answer will stay the same for probably the month of April. We closed on a house this past Wednesday, and now I have a to-do list as long as my arm. So, I'm setting a low goal for word count this month. Sometimes real life has to take the front seat and writing the back seat. I know I will return to it once life settles down a bit.

My question this week: How do you know when you're good enough?

It depends on the person. Most writers, no matter how famous, have that moment (some of us several times a day/week/month, etc.), where we're sitting in front of the computer and either nothing comes, or what comes is crap, and we know it's crap as our fingers are moving across the keyboard.


See more Lolcats and funny pictures

I guess my answer is to try and write through your insecurities. I have not always been successful with this. My never finished list is even longer than my new home to-do list. There is no failure in putting aside a story that isn't working. Sometimes things just don't work, and it happens. But if that's not an option, just keep writing. There are at least five chapters in my novel that are total and utter crap. I feel guilty even printing them out to proof them they're so bad. I know they're crap, I knew they were crap when I was writing them, but I kept writing, because I knew the good stuff would come eventually. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to write reams of crap to get back to the good stuff. I did that, and wrote a chapter that is among some of the best stuff I've ever written, in my humble little opinion, anyway.

So, no, I may never feel I'm good enough, no matter what successes I may acquire (or not). You may not either. Some writers reach the point where they feel "I've done it, I'm good enough." I doubt I'll ever be among their ranks-and that's okay with me. The goal is to keep away the self-sabotaging voices that tell us we're crap writers and should just give up all together.