On Friday, I saw the results of a short story contest I entered. It didn't win, place or get honorable mention....and they gave honorable mention to a lot of stories [forty I think].
This came just after I got really stuck in chapter 13 of my rewrite. My writing was awful, the story was lagging...and it seemed like the protagonist was just running around doing errands. So, I'm behind at work, I have errands to run and I have my characters errands to run....
These are the times that the doubts creep in...or in this case, take over. All of these hours/weeks/months of effort for something that no one may ever read. It's easy to start doubting what you're trying to accomplish, and wonder whether you even have what it takes to do this writing thing. [Feeling sorry for yourself is a big part of the doubts, too]
So, I took Friday off from writing, and went to a great party and concert. Saturday morning I took my son and his friend to the mall for back to school shopping; we have an unspoken agreement on these trips....stopping at the cash machine, I paid him off--he left happy not to have Dad tagging along, and I dove back into the book on the second floor of the amazing new Barnes & Noble at the mall.
An hour and a half later, they showed back up, shopping done. And me, I'd plowed through chapter 13, making some needed changes that I'm really happy with [Billy, my protagonist, decided to skip his errands]
Now I think I'm back on track. The doubts have been vanquished. [For now...]
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