It’s finally happened. I’ve lost all objectivity with my own work. Since I’m one of those rare breed–a writer without cp’s–this is just a little bit of a problem. I’m dealing with two projects right now. One, is a wip and realistically I know it doesn’t completely suck. It’s a forest for the trees problem and I know I’ll start to like it again in 10k words or so.
Project two though, is another issue entirely. It’s the dreaded revision I’ve been putting off for like a year and a half. And man, does it suck! Not just the revising part, but the book itself. And that sucks. This is the third book I wrote, and the first I wrote after a long hiatus from fiction writing. I love this book (despite the suckage factor). I poured a lot of myself into it. But rereading it now, I just don’t know if I can fix the problems without literally rewriting it from word one. I’m not quite ready to give up on yet, but I’m close. I mean, how much work should I put into something that just is never going to be good enough?
So here’s a question for y’all. How do know when it’s just time to put a manuscript away (and yourself out of misery)? Do you have something you’ve tried to go back to and just can’t make work? Is there some kind of secret burial ceremony I’m unaware of lol? Please tell. 
January 25th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
um…helpful as this is…Good luck with that.
I do have a couple stories I’ll rewrite from scratch someday, and some in the “I’m not good enough yet to fix THIS” pile. I guess I never completely give up. I just keep looking at it and wondering if I’m a strong enough writer yet to make it work.
January 25th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Lori I wish I had a good answer for you. I tried to revise my first ms. a couple years ago (or last year I can’t remember) and I was about 113 pages in, I had done some edits, saved and the computer locked up. In the mean time, the paper I’d copied my edits from? I’d just shredded them. I took it as a sign to walk away at least for a while…I’m HOPING to get back to it in March and finally rewrite it but I hear you, I’ve got some heavy revising ahead of me.
January 26th, 2007 at 12:22 am
I haven’t figured out how to judge. I still hold a candle for my first, unfinished, book.
G’luck with that, Lori!
January 26th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I think its time to put the book away for good if the thought of working on it seems like more of a chore than it seems like fun. If you’re not enthusiastic about the project, let it go and move on to something that *does* excite you, you know?