I Can't See!

[intothewood]

Help.

I’m going over my second book because it needs some fixing, and it’s definitely been awhile since I’ve read it through. But I’m in that state where I can’t really see anything for what it is.

Have you been there? One minute you look at something you’ve written and think ‘hey, that’s pretty good’ and the next minute you’re thinking ‘oh god that’s fucking awful!’ Or you get an obsession with, say, commas, and suddenly every fucking comma looks out of place. You’re reading unnaturally, halted by all the commas and the sentences don’t read like sentences any longer, they’re just a string of words separated by awkward commas!

I really need to do this, but I’m second guessing everything. Everything. The logical answer would be to put it aside, but I don’t wanna. Yes, I’ve turned into a stubborn four year-old who can’t read properly.

Stubborn four-year-old antics aside, have you had this happen and is there something you do to break from it? Because I really want to work on this today.

Comments

[intothewood]

Thank you, this is really helpful, a much appreciated part of my education and introduction to the world of writers as a community of people. I'm like a feral kitty, I have to be convinced to join the other kitties. Ugh, that's a horrible comparison, but you know what I mean.

[niniane]

Oh, not a problem. You can't learn if you don't ask questions. (And I believe that damages can be as high as $30,000 even if you can't prove any actual damages, which is a pretty tidy sum if someone runs off with a story - not bad, really.)