This is by no means saying I am great now. One should always strive to continue learning and growing. This had come to light because of a recent round of editing a novel I had written a few years ago.
I have been missing from here and a lot of places for a year and some. There were new ventures I had started that were outside of the writing world. I started selling trading cards online through different avenues, created a couple of Youtube channels, and followed a path that I didn’t know where it would lead.
Here I am again. The 37-thousand-word fantasy novel (or novella?) sat there with comments from beta readers that I had yet to pour over. On a whim, while suffering from analysis paralysis one night, I pulled out the notes and looked over the first chapter. It was good, but it could be better.
Using the notes provided and some AI for editing, I went through the first chapter. I will be the first to attest that AI had changed the tone too much. The voice I was going for was shredded, so I went back through the first chapter and corrected the tone, and made a few more tweaks. It was finished, for now.
Chapter 2 was a mess. In all honesty, it still is. I read it and asked myself “What was I thinking?” Instead of editing it, I went to chapter 3 to get a grasp on what I was doing and it was even worse. This led to my current notes. I have summarized each chapter and added editing notes, including switching chapters 2 and 3 and adding clarity.
So here we are, halfway through rereading, summarizing, and ripping apart my work. The only tears I shed are for the writer I once was. The words were innocent and will be presentable in the near future. Until then, I continue down the editing process.
The moral of the story is to be bad at something. Fail. Suck. Continue to do that over and over and you will improve. When I was writing this novel, I had stars in my eyes on how amazing it was. I look back now and realize I needed those years to grow and become better.
Love Always,
Vince