Writing is hard work. It's as physically demanding as any desk job (sitting hunched at a computer is rough!). It's mentally and psychologically taxing. Your boss (a.k.a. your own unrelenting desire to write this thing) is a jerk. Your coworkers (your "me, myself, and I" plus any pets or family members) are distracting at best and discouraging at worst.

But let's say you've stuck with it and finished a complete first draft. Now what?

1. Celebrate. Sometimes, once you're past the fun "dreaming on the page" stage, writing can feel like a slog. Finding opportunities to celebrate is important, and completing a draft is definitely an occasion to mark.
2. Take a break. Step away from your manuscript for as long as you can bear it. This will not only allow you to recharge creatively, it will give you a clear-eyed perspective of your work when you return to it.
3. Accept that there's much more work to do—and this doesn't mean you're a bad or failed writer. When you return to your work with fresh eyes, you might be discouraged. Don't be! Your first draft will likely be gloriously messy.
4. Review what you have and make a plan. As described in a previous newsletter, this is where you start looking at your story as a whole. With a critical but loving eye, ask yourself if your character's desire is on the page. Is there a clear cause-and-effect trajectory throughout your draft as your character pursues what they want most? Look for the gaps and wrong turns in the narrative and outline how you'll fix them.
5. Start again. Accept that with a first draft, you are still only beginning to get your story on the page. Pour yourself a cup of coffee (or beverage of choice), stockpile your favorite snacks, and get started on your second draft. You have determination and a plan. You can do it.

Note: At a certain point—and you'll know when it arrives—you will not know what needs further revision. This is where trusted beta readers or professional developmental editors (such as myself 👋) are invaluable.

Read.

• How record-keeping can help you prevent accidental plagiarism—and develop your literary community, too.
• "Memoirs are crafted, edited stories, no matter how close to the bone" and diaries are "garbage cans into which I tossed all the detritus: the obsessions, petty jealousies, fantasies, secret crushes, stinging rejections, all to clear the path to my 'real' work..." Dani Shapiro on burning her diaries (or not).
• In surprising publishing news, Zando acquired Tin House. Here's Cassie Mannes Murray of Pine State Publicity on why this acquisition is "a travesty."​

I'm currently savoring The Last Sane Woman by Hannah Regel. A ceramic artist comes across an archive of letters written by a woman who is eerily like her. What follows is the braided stories of the woman reading the letters in the present, the woman writing the letters, and the woman to whom she is writing the letters. It isn't at all confusing, I promise!

Regel is a poet, so reading her prose is a joy—it is precise but also slippery. (What do I mean? Her word choice is exact but used in surprising ways, without being flowery or pompous.) And the story is both haunting and pleasurable to follow. Read if you like literary fiction about the nature of art and women in artistic fields.

Write.

This is a fun writing prompt you can use to prime the creative pump: Take the first sentence of the book nearest at hand and write your own story or essay using that first sentence as your first sentence.

If you're writing with a partner or in a group, it's fascinating to see how each piece of writing takes on a life of it's own!

Wherever you are in your writing process, I am sending you luck and fortitude for the week ahead 🍀

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