There comes a time in every writer’s life when we face the question: What’s wrong with my manuscript?
“What’s wrong?” is not a bad question. We strive to tell the best story we can. During rewrites, we need to know what’s working – dialogue or Storyworld maybe – but what’s not working can overshadow your moments of brilliance.
Today, MBT Retreats Coordinator Alena Tauriainen and MBT Skills Coach Beth Vogt wrestle with the question What’s wrong with my manuscript?
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Many of you recently attended the ACFW annual conference in Indianapolis. Those who did pinned hopes on getting some sort of exciting news or opportunity. MBT Voices overall received overwhelmingly positive news. So why am I writing this? Because with the sweet comes the bitter. They always go hand in hand.
I’ve dealt with and helped people through disappointment for decades. There are some things I’ve seen in the circumstance that contributes to the emotion of disappointment that I want to share.
Having Unrealistic Expectations. Truly there are novice novelists who go to their first conference expecting that the biggest publishers in the industry will stand in line to snatch up their masterpiece…that hasn’t quite been finished. Ok, it really hasn’t been written yet, but with a contract in hand, they could stay up late one night and write it.
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I love this quote. I found it on Facebook. And it’s truth resonates. Writing a novel, or any story or article, is hard. And a bit scary. It demands our mind, our will, our determination and yes, even our hearts!
All of my creative juices and emotional energy is demanded when I’m writing a novel. Especially in the final stages when I’m polishing and weaving all of the threads and plot lines together.
Read the RestAs you read this, the MBT staff is hard at work at the ACFW conference (if you’re there too, stop by the MBT booth. I’d love to say hi!!). I’m sure you’re hard at work as well. You’ve been repeating your elevator speech a hundred times, not realizing it was to the hotel staff. When you finally got across the table from your dream agent, you forget everything… even your name! Conferences are enough to make you feel you insignificant. Like you’re a little tadpole in a great big ocean. If you’re not careful, you let some things go that really need to be attended to. That’s why I want to encourage you to stop! Relax! And… don’t forget to breathe! Whether you land that contract or not, you’re writing […]
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