I have just sent my novel draft out to my writing group. Right now, I am in that blissful space between a sense of completion and the harrowing realization that I have so much more work to do. This is where the idea of an asymptote comes in.
An asymptote is a line that draws nearer to a curve never crossing it at a finite distance. If you replace “line” with “your hard work” and “curve” with “the book being completed,” you may understand the asymptote reference.
Revising your book can feel like you’re getting closer and closer and closer without ever actually getting done.
Today’s blog post is a letter to my future self and to anyone else who is plowing through the notes you get your writing.
Strategy one dealing with notes:
Focus on the positive.
Don’t forget you’ve already done a tremendous amount in order to be able to send your book off to someone to read. If the person you’ve chosen is worth their mettle, they will give you a slew of notes that include things that are working, the positive aspects of what you’ve already done. Take a moment now and think about, take in and enjoy all of the things that they have shared with you that are positive. This is so that when you realize that you were merely at the cloudy part of the mountain and not on the summit, you know you’re closer than you think. Keep yourself free from despair.
Step two: Approach the work like a plumber would a broken toilet.
You may have a great deal of work to do. You may have a page-one rewrite. But the plumber would never try and fight the fact that a toilet needs to be fixed. The plumber would just see the work, know what needs to be done, and move ahead. If you don’t, you’ll have crap all over your floor.
Step three: Chunk it down
We’ve all heard this before, but breaking big tasks into small ones makes them manageable. With your notes, taking this approach, chunk down to the following:
1. Feel your feelings, but set a timer.
2. Make a list of all the notes you’ve received so far. Highlight the ones that make sense to you, or that you agree with
3. Take one item off the list and ditch the rest of the list somewhere where you can’t get a hold of it. Give it to a friend who has ADD, mail it to yourself on a Saturday before a bank holiday. Whatever you do make sure it’s no where were you can go back to fuss and overwhelm yourself again.
Repeat the process until you’re done with your list of notes. The most important part is to remember that your novel is like an overflowing toilet. No one will take care of it unless you do. It is also probably like a beautiful mountain stream.
Thanks for this advice! I’ve pulled out the notes I feel are helpful, and set up action steps, but I love the part about putting the rest of it away for awhile. Onward, one note at a time.