Write, Read, Edit, Repeat

We all dream of finishing the story we started. Of writing the famous words “The End” and finally putting that cover we so lovingly designed on Canva to good use. (Or maybe we’ll even… commission someone to design it for us??) But sometimes, getting there can feel impossible.

Take me for example: I’ve been working on the same novel for about… five years. Nearly six! (“Goodness, doesn’t that make you old?” Oh hush, I’m only just turning fifteen.) I’m on my fifth draft, and my story is almost unrecognizable now. Oh, and I wrote “To Be Continued…” for the first time at the end of Draft 4—the first draft I’ve ever actually finished. Yeah, there have been times when the finish line seemed way out of reach. I’ve actually threatened my novel that I would leave and never return if it didn’t start cooperating. That… obviously doesn’t work.

For some reason, notebooks and Google Documents don’t respond well to threats. Actually, they don’t respond at all.

So, when my novel isn’t cooperating and it feels like everything is falling apart and every word I write is absolute rubbish, I do the only thing that’s never failed me: I read. I read books by authors I like. I read books with characters similar to mine. I read, read, read, and when I come back to my own novel, my mind has cleared. Then I write some more.

My point for writing this is to tell you that your writing doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be good. But you must write, for that is your duty as a writer.

And if your novel is being unruly and taking ‘too long’, think about this:

Shannon Messenger, Author of Keeper of the Lost Cities, spent seven years writing the first book. Seven years! And her book was amazing.

JK Rowling spent six years writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. (And this was before Google Docs, by the way.) Now she’s one of the richest authors in the world!!

And I’ve spent five and a half years writing The Secret of Moonflower Valley, and it’s far from over.

So just… look. Your story will take as long as it needs. There’s no rushing creativity. Your characters won’t cooperate just because you ask them to. Even if you are super nice. (They don’t like to make it easy for us. Probably since we dump so much trauma on them… BUT IT’S FOR THE PLOT!!) Good things take time.

The next time you feel like your progress is going to slowly, take a deep breath, come back to this post, and remember:

Write.

Read.

Edit.

Repeat.

May you face your endlessly blinking cursor with bravery,

—Leah Larkspur