I’ve been waiting a long time to get back to the Dagger Trilogy (I know I’ve pined longingly in more that one blog post for this particular set of characters). And now that this magical moment has arrived I feel…well, pretty confused, actually.
The ‘magical moment’ actually arrived a few weeks ago. I read through the Trilogy for the first time in many months and felt so pumped up and ready to dive into revisions. I rearranged my wall of post it notes. I chose a problem area to focus on and outlined a few new scenes.
And then I stared at the computer screen for a couple weeks until I decided it was time to check my e-mail again.
It’s not that I’ve lost interest in the project. Truly, I love it more than ever, and it’s so exciting to have fresh eyes on it after such a long immersion in other projects. Honestly, I think I’m just scared.
After doing final edits on the Clocks book, I’ve forgotten how messy my early drafts look. (Seriously. Messier than my bedroom. Which is saying a LOT.) It just seems so fragile, like the skeleton of a building when it first reaches the stage of, “Oh, I guess they’re building a house.”
I have this irrational feeling that if I start working on this plot again, I might knock down what’s already good about it. I know that’s not how writing works, particularly since I save backup drafts of every stage of the process. But still, it’s holding me back, and I wish it wouldn’t.
Has this happened to any of you? Any suggestions on how to break out of it?