OK, so it's a lie - I have chamois-ed over the first 5 chapters - I am now officially banning myself from even looking anywhere between pages 1 and 60.
It is so unfair, to the rest of the writing, that the first five chapters are at the start of the book. I always look and I always find new and inventive ways to tinker. They are now, not so much polished, as inherently sparkly!
The rest sits vaguely buffed or a trifle dingy depending on how far along we're talking about (more lies - what has gotten into me?)!
The later on in the book I got the tidier it was (from day one) - direct and purposeful, I always felt it was writing itself. I am now much clever-er at sentence order and vocabulary choices though.
WORD COUNT (after the last T-cut possible... until an editor forces me to bleed from my optical cavities ... on ch 1 to 5) 87,970 and falling!
I feel your pain. I went through the same thing with my MS. The first 100 pages always felt like a struggle. Then I finally got the first 100 to sparkle and now I'm worried that the other 250 arent as shiny. Where's the magic wand when we really need it? :)
ReplyDeleteSo true!
ReplyDeleteIt was just such a relief to read it and smile again - I've been frowning at the screen wondering how writing managed to turn itself into a chore.