Taking a breather after my nth draft? Why, hello there!

Hi everyone,

I finished coffee without noticing the mug was empty reading through a bunch of posts at AW, and figured, hey, might as well say my hello/how you doing?s. Get my toes wet and such.

Just another writer trying to get good at this writing gig.

Right now, I'm watching the little dog go nuts chasing flies around the house and patio as the day's revving up for a heat wave. Yes, growling at it will make the fly fall off the wall, Lily. Ah, summer, when the students are away.

I started writing seriously about 10+ years ago at the ripe old age of 29, when I realized fiction was more fun than my thesis (wow, no way ) and I've been at it ever since.

Eh, one day something will get out there. This gets a bit more reasonable every year. In the meantime, no big, just chill, enjoy the process, and amuse the pooch, right?

The current project began two+ years ago, but through no fault of its own and multiple drafts, blew up into a 160K monster book of my heart. And this is YA. Yup, that's going to be a bit of wrangle getting it down to under 100K. But for now...

Cue: throwing in the towel and weeping, my GOD.

(No worries, seriously. I usually contemplate giving up between drafts, but eventually figure something out. I should get a costume for each time I have a writing breakdown, make it more dramatic. THIS IS OVER. I SHALL NEVER WRITE AGAIN! MY PEN IS BROKEN, I TELL YOU, BROKEN! Honey, can I have a G&T? And maybe a chocolate pudding? Thanks.)

Now, before I buckle down to cut out swathes and lean/mean my fourth pass,
I figured I'd cool my heels marathoning Supernatural Season 11-12, and hang out here shooting the breeze with fellow writers in the trenches.

Hope you guys are IN THE MIDDLE of something good. Such a good place to be.

Cheers!

Dude, you get a five! But i seem to have misjudged my dejection and recovery process. There's going to a bit more wading my ankles in other people's business and wondering what they're doing, and avoiding of getting back to my own. But seriously? 175k? And it doesn't just split down the middle to make two books , does it? Argh...

No, it's good, it's really good. I needed to read about someone wading through, but getting through, you know?

I kind of gave up last night, again, and saw that as the little engine finally rolling backwards down the hill, and am now wandering around in a bit of a giver-upper daze, so your talk of finding a way is really great. Time, yeah? And walks, and letting the pieces slide into place on their own... it IS kind of fantastic.

Good luck, man. Happy sails and all that.