Posted tagged ‘trying to meet deadline’

Noveling – Can’t Pull It Out Of A Hat At the End of the Day

January 30, 2012

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I’ve been trying, trying, trying, to revise a novel over the last several days.  The problems have been (i) that the novel needs major restructuring – i.e. cuts;  (ii) that the novel needs major restructuring – i.e. flashbacks; and (iii) that the novel needs major restructuring – i.e. a different author.

Even several nights up till 2 a.m. have not done the trick.

I have made progress–i.e. I’ve cut a few whole pages and lots and lots of dangling modifiers.

But my hope that I can get a reasonable version done before the end of this week–a deadline for a contest submission–is definitely waning.

The whole thing brings up the extremely unpleasant understanding that I really can’t pull everything out of the hat at the end of the day.  The impossible is, sometimes, in fact, impossible. i.e. ugh.

Question of the hour:  is it still worth trying?

Answer of the hour:  probably not tonight.

 

 

(P.S. In the meantime, I have a short, quick, funny novel out called NOSE DIVE.  It’s only 99 cents on Kindle–a bit more in paperback.  Check it out!)