To be perfectly honest: it was scary.
It felt like a huge risk to delete so much manuscript at once.
It was easy to make excuses: the words aren't that bad. I desperately need those words to pad my story. I worked so hard on that section. If I delete them, it'll set me back X number of days. I won't meet my deadline. I will have wasted so much time and energy, and for what?
So I wanted to post an update on what happened after I had that "clean slate" to work with.
First, once the words were gone, it was like a weight lifted. I finally felt like I was making progress (even if it was regress). I read a couple of previous chapters and was immediately able to insert about 1,000 of those words back into the story--just not in their original order. Once that scene was taken care of, I was able to move seamlessly into the next scene that was supposed to happen: one I'd been dreading/avoiding.
And you know what? The words came quickly.
You already know that between family and work I have to find writing time in the nooks and crannies of the day, but I was actually able to stay up late one night to work on it, and was so motivated I finished the scene first thing the following morning.
In just a few days, I've almost earned those 5,000 words back. What's even better? I don't feel like I'm fighting this story anymore. Things are flowing nicely, characters are acting the way they're supposed to act, and I'm not forcing things to happen that don't want to happen.
Cutting that section was one of the best decisions I've made on this project, and I'm blogging about this for posterity, because I know there will come a time when I am stalled on a new story--making no progress whatsoever--and my only option will be to hit "delete."
I know I will make the same excuses: no, I need those words. I've worked so hard on them. I can't afford to backtrack.
I know I will need to return to these posts and take my own advice, and reading them will remind me that sometimes the thing I dread most is exactly what I need to make happen, and that the results just might surprise me.
Be Brilliant!
~Katie~
