It occurred to me that the honeymoon phase is over for me and my WIP. We are now thoroughly married. Here's a few reasons why.
- The romance is gone. I don't open the document with stars in my eyes anymore. I still have strong feelings for it, but my dreamy "oh-my-god-I'm-obsessed-with-you-you-are-amazing" phase has turned into the "are-you-going-to-work-with-me-today-or-am-I-going-to-have-to-apply-force?" phase.
- The smooth sailing ends. My WIP doesn't tell me I'm pretty anymore. It just sits there, watching football and drinking beer. After the rough draft is written, the relationship isn't easy any longer. You have to smooth ragged edges and connect loose dots.
- You feel like you're doing all the work. Remember when your characters unfolded and your plot flowed without you seemingly having to lift a finger? Suddenly, that changes. You need to make major alterations for consistency. You might have to (gasp) get rid of secondary/tertiary characters or even whole chapters. And the whole time, your WIP's just sitting there, not helping. Would it kill it to take the trash out once in a while!?
- You forgot your anniversary!
But sometimes, when things click, there's a glimmer of what used to be there. The excitement, the thrill of novelty. And that's when you realize that the rollercoaster has become unadulterated, resigned, inexplicable, uncompromising love.
What about you? How's your "marriage" going? (And are you trying to keep your eyes from straying to new story ideas like mine are?)
P.S. I will be participating in this blogfest on December 16th! The theme is to recycle an old blog post of yours that you love or that didn't get as many reads as you'd like. Check out DL Hammons's blog for more details and the sign-up sheet.
Now I just have to decide what to re-post!
16 comments:
haha, I am in the same boat as you. This morning I emailed my CP an "OMG, I have to write WORDS today" email, because writing words sounds impossible and so not fun. (but that's because they have to be shiny, perfect, it's-almost-time-to-query words, not anything-is-possible drafting words)
The only thing my WIP doesn't forget is our anniversary. Right now, the dang things is reminding me that after two years together, I'm still not finished :D
Good luck to you, Julie!
Are you sure you've never been married before????
And thanks for the shout-out! :)
LOL, sounds familiar... ;)
I've been revising a novel for what feels like years now, and it's not getting any easier. But every so often I get a glimmer of hope, and see how much my revisions have changed things for the better.
Great post!
Weirdly I have been though some massive revisions, then found myself in a second honeymoon period. I'd cut too much--to the bone really-- and decided it was time to reanimate the manuscript. It was the most fun revision EVAH. Making the dialogue more sparkly, the metaphors more unexpected and clever, the descriptions more sensory.
Love this comparison because it's perfect! I'm a flighty girl though. I'm always getting distracted by Shiny New Ideas/Loves. :)
Guess I've just started the dating phase then!
My manuscript wasn't quite that hard on me though. I was still excited all through the edits.
Marriage is a good metaphor! Hang in there, the best is yet to come. As long as there's love it will be okay. Remember you two were made for each other!
My revision is more of a twin. We live together and don't always get along, but the challenge is fun. But we really need to move out and have adventures on our own lol.
Keep at it. Good luck!
Yeah, that's a great analogy. Good luck with your revisions!
Hahaaa, your characterization of real-life marriage is hilarious! But don't worry, it's not always like that. Right now I'd say the real life thing is going better than my WIP! lol
I like the editing stage better actually. The rough draft is always painful for me. Blech.
Woohoo!!! Marriage is great but I'm not gonna tell ya that we don't have to work at keepin' the old flames goin'!!!
Loved your take on 'real~life marriage' girl, ya crack me up!!!
God bless and enjoy this beautiful day sweetie!!! :o)
Marisa: GOOD LUCK with querying! I'm so excited for you. I hope I get there soon. Revisions are going better this week, which is good news. I've been dragging my feet on this WIP for much too long.
Don: Not to my knowledge :) You're welcome!
Tere: Yes, those glimmers of hope are what keep us going! Good luck on revising your novel!
Laurel: That's great! I hope I find myself in a second honeymoon period with this WIP, too. It's not that I love it any less - the hard work just becomes more apparent after the rough draft's complete. I have high hopes, though!
Krispy: SAME. I actually just wrote 4K-5K of a synopsis for a new story. Looking forward to being able to work on it soon, but must focus on PPP at the moment.
Alex: Aw, that's wonderful!
Charmalot: Haha - I love that comparison!
Angie: Thank you :)
Jessica: HAHA. I'm sure both types of marriages are going well for you :) Keep at it! It's great that you like the editing phase!
Nezzy: Haha so true! Thanks for your encouragement!
Good luck, good luck! Happy unplugging.
Oh, ugh - just realised I commented on the wrong post. Bad me.
Ha Ha! Hilarious! Great Post and Blog.
What a great comparison! Scarily true!
Talli: Thank you! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
Crystal: Haha, thanks!
Margo: Thank you :)
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