I found myself sitting at the kitchen table this morning, trying to decide what I should work on.

Should I work on my novel? Should I write some poetry? Should I just stare into space and watch the hours pass by?

Toss it all in a blender and see what comes out? Yep. Let’s do that.

I posted something this morning, then decided I would sit here for a little while longer, waiting for the inspiration to strike to turn my attention to my novel – by literally turning my head to the left and reviewing the open binder and going through the edits I scrawled throughout the document.

My heart’s just not in it today. Sometimes it’s like that.

I decided, while I was waiting for inspiration to strike, I would look over some previous posts I had made when I first started writing again and I have noticed one perspective that remains a constant in my writing career. Editing is hard.

Someone posted a tweet the other day asking other authors what they thought was more difficult, Drafting or Editing. When I saw that, I literally laughed out loud. I think if you are doing it right, editing will always be harder than drafting. For me, drafting is done wholly in my imagination. There are no rules in there (if there are, they are very loose and pliable), and the draft can be as rough as it needs to be to get it out of my noggin and onto the page.

If you ever want another human to read the thing you created, you need to look it over with a critical eye, and no matter how wonderfully crafted your draft happens to be, it will always need work. It will always require more effort than the conjuring did, because once the beast is brought forth, it must be controlled in order to wield it, and have any influence over the audience. 

All this to say, I have been here before, and while it may be frustrating in the moment, I am comforted to know that, while it may be challenging, good things come from the effort; and because I know I have been here before, I can cut myself a little slack and go take the nap I have been promising myself for the past hour. The draft will here when I get back.

See you all later!