Let It Be (wherein I whisper wise words about NaNoWriMo)
I applaud you, NANOWRIMO participants who cranked out 50,000 words last month. There’s no way I could do that (at least not in the last year and a half).
You’re flush with the success of that and so you should be. It’s taken me twenty months to get 30,000 words of my new novel down. If you’ve bested me by 20,000 words in thirty days, I tip my favourite mask to you!
I know it’s a daunting task, and it’s maybe why I’ve not attempted it. But if you’ll indulge me, I can give you some POSTNANOWRIMO tips if you like.
Actually, I only have one. LET IT BE. You’re likely eager to get on with the editing process. I get that. But I’ll tell you that I finished a first draft of my new novel a couple of weeks ago, and I’m letting it SIT ON ITS ASS for at least a month. It has no idea what it wants to be, but it does not want to be rushed. But more than that, it doesn’t want my eyes on it right now. I have no distance.
This guy is a very different guy from the one who first told us to let it be. Be this guy. Let the work mature, and to come into its own. It won’t have lost its beauty. It’ll just look different.
Your manuscript will be telling you a completely new story after you’ve left it alone for a while. It won’t be a perfect story, as you already know. The subtitle of NaNoWriMo should be “Shitty First Drafts Backwards ‘R’ Us” and we all know it. But that’s okay. That’s how it’s supposed to be.
If you were asking for my advice (which you’re not), I’d say, let it be. Let it sit for a few weeks or even a few months before you go at it again. Let it season and mature before you ask more of it.
You might find that after a month or so, you’re ready to start working through it on your own. If so, there are many good courses out there on how to edit your own prose. I have one myself, but mine is not the only one. Take your time with the google machine and see which one is right for you.
I know you’re on fire with this new manuscript, but if you can cool your jets and let it rest for a bit, it’s a virtual guarantee you’ll be able to see it with fresh eyes. Do some work on your own, and when you’re ready to hire an editor, we’re out here, waiting to be gentle and kind to all those words you’ve busted your fingers typing.