So I managed a whole 2 and a half days back at work before I got sent home ill again. I’ve been ill all over xmas with tonsilitus and then as soon as I get back to work I pick up a nasty cold straight away! How I love winter … All the romanticism of cuddling up on the sofa in a thick jumper with a hot drink with either a book or my ps3 controller shoots out the window in a flash. I don’t make a very good patient; I just sit there seething wishing I had a healthy immune system like everybody else. Still, it could be a lot worse than a cold so I will stop complaining and use this extra free time to do a bit of reading, or writing.
I finished my first novel about twelve months ago now, maybe even longer, and I just wasn’t happy with it. Reading it back the narrative voice sounded amateur, the characters were flat and the whole thing just seemed, well … unlikely. Is that a common reaction to finishing your first novel? An overwhelming sense of inadequacy swamps me every time I go to open the folder containing that book. The whole job of redrafting seems immense and I just don’t feel like I have the stamina to do it.
But then, do I want to be a writer or not? There are plenty of cliches about the importance of redrafting. So I know, if I want to write, then it must be done. Does anyone have any tips on getting over a Redrafting Block?
