Deborah Woehr

Karen wrote an excellent post called The Lure of a New Project, where she discusses how writers fall into the trap of starting new projects before they finish their current one. I find myself at the opposite end of the spectrum, obsessed with finishing a project before I start another. It took me about nine months to hammer out the manuscript of my first story, which I promptly shelved because I felt that bookstores had an overabundance of serial killer novels already.

I started writing Prosperity shortly thereafter and have rewritten it eight times over the past ten years. A writing mentor helped me with Draft 5. When I finished, his advice was to keep editing it until I felt that it was good enough to submit to publishers.

As soon as I typed those magical words, I would start at the very beginning. The problem is that I’m always finding things that I think need fixing. I’ll always find something wrong with what I’ve written.

I finished the 8th draft late Tuesday night. The next morning, I brought a copy of God’s Last Twilight to work with me and handed it to one of my co-workers. Everybody gathered around when she began talking excitedly about my book. I announced to them that I had just finished writing Prosperity and that I was shopping around for an editor. They were very happy for me. I smiled, but on the inside I felt a dread that I’d never experienced before.

What if they don’t like the book I’ve just given to them? What kinds of mistakes will I find when I look through Prosperity this time? Is it even close to being sellable by traditional or self-publishing standards?

The last question has always lured me back to the computer to hunt for mistakes, which inevitably leads to a near-total rewrite. This time, I forced myself not to open the first chapter, except to gather all the files together for an official wordcount. This time, I forced myself not to touch anything because I know myself too well.

Instead, I contacted another horror writer (who also offers an editing service) and submitted the first five pages of my manuscript. I’ll scout and contact more editors tonight and tomorrow. I’m hopeful that he/she will enjoy what I’ve written. What concerns me the most right now is that I’ve hacked this story to death. They’ll tell me.

My situation is not a unique one, but it is just as harmful as the writer who flits from project to project. The end result is the same: potential books that will always be “in the making.”