Reasons I have Multiple Unfinished Manuscripts in my Drawer

-one ms was rejected no less than 6 times (it was loved by a publisher who went out of business a short time later)

-one was read by 20 friends who LOVED it and 1 friend who HATED it

-one needed new illustrations and I didn't take the time to redraw them

-one required a "dummy" book to showcase the pictures I took and I never got around to finding out
how exactly to do that

-one worked better as a short story instead of as a novel and I didn't think I could write a good short story-- though I did some good research on what makes a good short story (which is attached to the original notes with a paper clip)

-one had a strange split between really funny, personable characters and a heavy, dramatic subject and I wasn't sure if it worked or not

-one picture book got pretty far until I couldn't figure out how to draw the Taj Mahal in a spider web

-one was missing page # 7 and I couldn't figure out what to put

-one has a blind guy as one of the main characters and an actual blind professor listened to it and said I chose the wrong degenerative disease and I couldn't figure out how else to make my character go blind in the given time frame

-one had far too many words for a picture book and I couldn't decide where to cut

-one is totally forgotten-- I'm sure I'd be surprised if I came across it

-one needs a revamping of the princess' governess-- I think she's a bit too harsh

-one requires a new ending

-one requires that I actually decide how to end it

-one was just a whim and it was fun writing it (though it would never, ever be published)

-one is WAY too autobiographical to actually be fiction :o)

-one was offered a vanity press offer, which I declined since I don't have $3,000

-one was described as being "too good, too pie-in-the-sky" and I didn't have the heart to throw in more drama just to make it more of a soap opera

-one requires a complete overhaul since I wrote it in a "stream of consciousness" style for NaNoWriMo and it lacks chapters, a coherent time line, and that ever-important denouement and ending


Sometimes it's easier to start a new manuscript than it is to work through the bugs/kinks/problems that hold you up. Plus, the thrill of the discovery for a new manuscript is much, much more exciting than slogging through the 8th revision and reworking the same scene over and over again.

Some day some, perhaps not, but definitely NOT all of them will get reworked. They will see the light of day again and be dusted off and reworked. When? Not so sure on that. I think it's going to take a herculean effort of forcing myself to do the nitty-gritty, sometimes painful, less than glamorous work that characterizes the majority of a writer's time but is never glorified or portrayed in movies.

I'll get there. For now, I decided to at least be honest about my list of excuses.

What are yours??