Thread by @djolder

when you finally finish that book

at the @BNUnionSquareNY event with @LBardugo someone asked how you know when a book is done. It's a great question. WHEN YOU TYPE THE END jk

WHEN YOU'RE DONE WORKING ON A BOOK:
1. don't be a perfectionist
2. write the best book you can
3. It takes a village
4. trust your gut

there's a difference between when you're done working on a book and when the book is done.
Because edits. It is a collaborative process.

if you train yourself to trust your instincts, they will become trustworthy. This is important, because there's no simple equation for Done.

sometimes you're just fuckin' done

but in that moment, there can be an impulse to hide the manuscript instead of sending it out. And then just never doing anything with it.

Fear of success can be as terrifying and paralyzing as fear of failure. Or maybe they're one in the same

1. It's probably much better than you think it is
2. You can send it to a beta-reader instead of an agent/editor first
3. In fact you should

but don't hide it from the world forever.
Manuscripts, like dreams, fester and mold when you defer them.
And then they explode.

ultimately, the process requires of us what's pictured in the gif that starts this thread: we must learn to let go.

but put that on the list of crucial skills they somehow never mention in writing classes right beside listening and power analysis.

A beta-reader is someone who reads to give you feedback. I advise it be someone you're not shmanging in any capacity

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not that people you're shmanging shouldn't read your work in early drafts. Just make sure some people who you're not are reading them too.

I've chopped a whole-ass 2/3 of a book and reworked the entire mythology and plot from ground up. That was the most.

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anyway, rounded out this week of bouncing btwn edits on one book and words on another finishing this round of edits and sending it in :-)

so all that stuff was on my mind.
It's a new process every time.
Which is why as a writer you gotta keep your machete sharpened.

feel me?

"Oh you're a writer? Have you written anything I might've heard of?"
Me:

#TheLastJedi revealed

This question is seriously the equivalent of finding out someone does Karate and asking if they can beat you up

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