Editing turned into rewriting

So I finished the first draft of Fire Tongue in December, and I started the ‘editing’ process in January. But as it turns out, that editing process has become more of a rewriting process. But I suppose that is to be expected. The first draft is the bare bones on the story, and I definitely arranged some of those bones incorrectly. But hey, putting an entire skeleton together is tough! So now I’m moving things around, deleting most of the scenes I already wrote and replacing them with new ones, adding characters to enrich the story, sprinkling the setting with fairy dust and magic, and doing a whole lot of other stuff. Sounds great, right? Ugh.

At first, it was okay. I was on a roll and was getting great feedback on Scribophile, so I was feeling good. But then I got distracted, ran into some hurdles, tripped over said hurdles, and have been trying to pick myself up ever since. I just got back from a two week vacation, which gave my brain some much needed rest, and I’m feeling ready to run this race to the end. I wrote 1,049 new words today, and am actually very happy with how the scene turned out. There were card tricks, whirling fire tornadoes, and of course some beautiful, deep brown eyes. (Because honestly, I can’t get enough of pretty brown eyes.)

But all along, I keep wondering if this story is strong enough. Is the plot entertaining enough? Are the characters loveable? Will anyone enjoy reading it? But no matter what, I need to keep pushing along. Even if this doesn’t end up being the debut novel I hope it is, at least I will have learned a lot along the way, and will finish it with pride and a smile.

Writing is a craft, and I’m still learning every day. I won’t give up!