It's time to get real. I haven't finished my final draft of The Birthday Wish. In truth, I've struggled to figure out what changes to make and find the motivation. It's not that I don't like the story, in fact, I love it! It's one of my favorite stories I've written.
There are a few things I did right with this story:
Emotion! For me, that's a level up move. My writing has grown enough that I finally managed to write a scene with emotion from the start. Usually I have to write, rewrite, and revise again before I dig deep enough to pull enough feelings from my characters. With Cas, that didn't seem to be a problem.
Why! I answered the why for Cas. Why did she go see her dad? Why in that moment? Again, this is something I've not always done, so it felt pretty good to write a rough draft that answered those questions.
Positive Feedback with not a lot of changes. During the critique partner round the feedback was super positive and the changes were minimal. At first I questioned whether or not the story was really that clean. I asked myself if maybe I was overlooking a major problem that my CPs pointed out, but I was blind to. Then I received an edit from the Great and Powerful Carly. Imagine my surprise when she didn't have a lot of changes either. Her recommendations were to dig a little deeper into who my main character was. She wants me to show her personality through her actions. This is something I can (and will) do.
Which leads me to not posting a final draft. After talking to my writing group (love you ladies) I came to a few realizations.
One: I don't like writing something that has no connection with other projects. It's part of why I struggled finishing this story. I wanted it to be a part of a new project. The first time I did WIM, my story kicked off my witches. Sure, I didn't include most of it in my current story, but it helped me bring out some of my main character's voice. It had a purpose. When I wrote the first draft of this story it was just a story. As we neared the end I struggled to find the motivation to finish something when I wanted so much to put my focus on a new project.
Two: I need down time between projects. I jumped into WIM at the same I wrapped up my witches. Now that I'm knee-deep in the query trenches with my witches, I needed a break. The timing was horrible because while I wanted a break, I also needed to finish WIM. This is an excuse, but if I've learned anything with Round 2 of WIM it's that I need to recognize when I take on too much.
Three: Going back to #1, I made a connection! A couple of days ago I figured out how to tie this scene in with my new work in progress. Giving this story purpose helped me put the final piece of the puzzle together for my WIM project.
I still haven't really answered why I'm not posting a final draft. Here's why: I want the finished product to be in my new work in progress. I want to make sure that the details I add based on Carly's feedback and my critique partners' feedback to match the rest of the story. If I make those changes for what's written right now, then I'm going to have to go back and redo most of it when it comes to working it into the new story.
For round two of Writer in Motion I broke the rules. I'm not posting a final draft. But I also followed the rules. The point of WIM is to show our process as we work through a project. This is my process. I learned that I need all things to have a connection with a current work in progress, or a future WIP that I can see. I also learned that I need to know when to say no and take a break. Finally, I learned through Round 2, that my writing has leveled up. It's a baby step, but I'm proud of my progress. Thank you all for joining me. I hope one day you'll be able to read the final draft of this scene when you pick my book up off the shelf!
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