Novels and Knitting

Yup, it's been awhile since I blogged... probably because I've been avoiding that question of "how did your writing go during Lent?"

Um... well...

Alright, the truth.  A lot of other things got in the way.

But I'm back at it... at least, I'm back at editing my original novel, a murder mystery.  I'm now "word editing" one chapter at a time.  I'm getting there.  Really.

While there were lots of life situations that got in the way during Lent (distractions galore), there's one more thing that gets in the way that I have to deal with:  perfectionism.

It's a disease I've had since I was little.  I remember my grandmother teaching me to knit.  I was probably 4 or 5.  She'd started me off, and then I'd knit after her.  Her stitches were smooth and loose.  Mine were tight and ugly.   Before anyone could stop me, I'd taken the knitting off the needles and unravelled it.  When asked why I did that, I replied it wasn't perfect!  Ah, the curse of the first born.

Interestingly... I now love to knit.  And I've better learned to live with the little imperfections in my knitting (although I'd still tear up that first example!).

Maybe the problem with my novel is that this is my first one.  And so some parts are smooth and loose.  And other parts are tight and ugly.  And there are days when I just want to rip it up.

The only problem?  I remember back to knitting.  After I'd torn up that first sample, my grandmother patiently started me off on a new one, explaining to me that I'd have to do a lot of knitting to get it to look like hers.  And so this first scarf would be "practice."  That first scarf was definitely not a fine work of art.  But there was some satisfaction in seeing the improvement along the way.

So... this first novel is going to be "practice"... including getting practice in how to self publish.  And yes, I'll let you know when it's done and how you can get a copy, if you'd like.  Because part of learning is figuring out how to market and get the word out.  But just so you know?

This perfectionist is seeing this first novel as just practice...