...going up
Writers write. Simple as. Yet, I find writing to be the easiest part of the profession. The words come out of my head quite easily, flow along my arm and onto the paper. It’s not a boast – there are other aspects of writing which I find a massive stumbling block (I’ll get to this in a bit). I’ll admit some other writers I’ve spoken to find it hard to get their ideas, or a smooth plot, or character development onto a page with ease, and I guess I should consider myself lucky that a story will be pretty much fully formed in my head before I even start to write it longhand (I type up my work after finishing each chapter in a notebook). But for me, editing my work is something I find extremely hard.
...up and away
Where to start? It’s hard when you’re so involved in a project to take a step back and see the corrections that need to be made. Also for me, the longer a manuscript, the more I lose sight of plot development – and so often there will be glaring big continuity errors, even in a draft which I thought was almost ready for a final copy edit.
...coming down
And then of course – rejections! This is something every writer goes through at some stage. Doing your homework helps of course… looking up the right place to send it, reading the work of writers they represent etc.
Still, it’s good to keep going and overcome the obstacles. For every up, there is a down and vice-versa. We wouldn’t be human if it was all a smooth ride!
Leilanie Stewart 