Revisions, writers, and gifts

Oh, revisions! I submitted my first chapter for critique this past week, and received some really great feedback! I knew going in that I have POV (point of view) issues, and I tend to “tell” and not “show”. In other words, I tend to tell the reader what the character is feeling (“Nervously, she looked behind her”) rather than show the reader what the character is feeling (“Her heart thumping, she looked behind her”). Or kind of like that. 😉

Anyway, revisions can be tough. I had four very kind and wise people make changes and suggestions. The key is to take the good and dump the not-as-good. I didn’t change everything that was suggested, but I definitely had my eyes opened on the areas I need to work over again. And this is before an editor ever looks at it!

Growing up, I thought writing was easy. HA! No. It isn’t. Even after I grew up and realized that writing is harder than it looks–and even after working for an author as his assistant!–I still didn’t quite understand until I started this journey for reals. 😀 It takes not just creativity and a story idea, but technical skills, such as sentence structure and grammar, and so many other tidbits!

What I can say about writing, though, is that if it’s your calling, your God-given gift, then do it. It’s truly an incredible experience. And even better? The other authors you meet along your journey. I still shake my head in wonder at the friendships I’m building, both with unpublished writers through the ACFW and with published authors–both debut authors and those who have been writing for a couple of decades. That networking and friendship-building has probably been the most priceless part of this experience so far. Not only are writers encouraging and incredibly helpful, but the ones I’ve met so far have taken priceless time out of their day to explain something or teach me something, or even offer to critique for me in order to have my MS ready for a conference meeting.

So, as exhausting as writing can be–and the process is long–it is so very rewarding. It’s taken me a long while to come here, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.