- Have you neared the end of your manuscript and wanted to chunk the entire thing?
- Reread the rough draft for editing and wondered why you spent so much time on that?
- Get a few agent rejections and cease trying to send the WIP out?
THE ARTIST'S WAY explains this phenomenon.
- "An artistic U-turn arrives on a sudden wave of indifference."
- "Creativity is scary, and in all careers there are U-turns."
- "Typically, when we take a creative U-turn we are doubly shamed: first by our fear and second by our reaction to it. Again, let me say it helps to remember that all careers have them."
- "A successful creative career is always built on successful creative failures. The trick is to survive them."
- "Creative U-turns are always born from fear--fear of success or fear of failure.
I had no clue then that a rough draft isn't the same as finished. All of them take revision and revision and some more revision. I didn't have a clue what craft skills I needed, but I knew I couldn't do the story justice. At that time, I had no clue where to go to find out about craft skills.
That was then and this is now. Besides having two published devotionals, I have not only the SF trilogy on the back burner, but a rapidly growing comtemporary trilogy that I'm calling women's fiction for the moment. That's subject to change. But far more importantly, I know that this isn't a quick job, and I know where to find instruction on craft--both in books and on line.
My U-turn is over...for now. ; ) I know I'll see a more down the road, but I won't stop this time--not now, not ever.
What have your creative U-turns been?
How did you get back on the road?