One of our Write for a Reason students recently asked this excellent question; “My question concerns what target I should set myself in my writing. I know I’ve made some progress over the last few years, and hopefully a bit more as a result of your course. Now I need to be motivated to focus on a new story, or new draft of a previous one, so any guidance you can give me on this would be helpful.”
Are you familiar with this dilemma? I certainly am! When we have come to the end of a particular writing project, or want to go back to writing after a break, there is a decision to be made. Should we resurrect an old manuscript that didn’t get published, write the ending to a partly-written story we neglected to finish, or start something completely new? It’s an issue that can grind us to complete inactivity if we’re not sure of the way forward!
I can’t, of course, make this decision for you, but personally I think (feel free to disagree!) that going over old stories has limited value – their main value was in the practice. If we are continuing to learn our craft, each story we write will be better than the one before, so my advice would be to start something you are really enthusiastic about, (putting into practice all the tips you have gleaned since your last story; better dialogue, a tighter plot, more engaging characters, for example) and set yourself a target so that you finish it.
What do you think?
Next week we’ll look at setting yourself targets to finish your story – subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out!
With all very best wishes for your writing, and may the Lord lead and guide,
Janet
P.S. The new Write for a Reason course starts on April 13th – do spread the news. This course focuses on writing Christian stories for children. I am also planning a monthly subscription programme for a very small cost. This is so those of you who would like to learn more but can’t manage to do the full course can still get ahead. If you join this ‘members’ programme you will receive monthly tuition via email and a live webinar. Watch this space!
Well, in my case, I always choose to write a new story and to write about something new.
I never edit old stories, I wait until something new appears and I write about.
This way, I always have fresh and original content on my website.
Sounds good Adele!