Will it ever be good enough?

I've been using the second option for about two years. I find plot holes and start over. The main character I loved, I hate and start over. Grammatical errors, start over. I keep the main ideas and move on. But I wasn't on my 3rd draft.

Shagy1186 said:

Before summer started I printed my second draft to my book. I decided to put it away for the next few months and think of my next book idea, write some short stories, and continue with my screenplay.

About a week ago I went back to my book and began correcting it. I began to find many many mistakes. And not just grammar but the way some of it is written. I decided I have one of two choices, continue with correcting it and fix the parts that I don't like or just take my central idea of the story and rewrite the entire thing. I was wondering has anyone else had this problem and what did you do? Thanks.

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I suspect every writer out there has this problem. That's why mutiple drafts were invented.

Thr trouble with rewriitng the whole thing, rather than correcting whaever is wrong, is that you'll almost certainly make more mistakes should you start over.

My trunk novel, lovingly dubbed by my friends The Book That Would Not Die, went through more than ten complete start-from-scratch- rewrites before I ever actually finished the story. Partly that's because I was writing it in bursts where I'd write like heck for a week and then wander off for a month, but partly it's because my writing skills were progressing faster than the story (First draft was started in seventh grade. I got to 'the end' last semester. I'm a junior in college).

I actually find it encouraging to go back and look at stuff I wrote a while ago-- especially when it sucks. I take the fact that I can recognize the suckitude as evidence that I'm improving.

There does come a point, though, where for better or for worse, you just have to declare it done and move on.

I'm with James. Correct it and send it out. Trust me, if they want rewrites, they'll soon tell you.

Of course it's never going to be good enough. Someone, somewhere, is going to be disappointed by your work. But as a writer, you need to reach a point where the book you've written is a book you'd actually like to read. When you enjoy reading your own work even though you know every part of it, that's when you can rest peacefully knowing that you've done the best you could with it.

This isn't a "problem."

It's growth.

Congratulations. You're becoming a better writer.