Mistakes

For we all stumble in many ways…

James 3:2

 

Rewriting. I’ve heard other authors say that word like it’s the most dreaded thing out there. I have yet to have to go through a rewriting the way published authors do but I have reworked a few scenes, and am now reworking a manuscript that is half complete because it’s been a while since I looked at it. And because I now know my character in a way I didn’t when I started writing this manuscript.

I’m discovering that rewriting is a world all its own. In one way I am enjoying it. In this rewriting I am getting the chance to read over my work, to catch things that I have forgotten. But it’s also slowing me down. I’m gaining very little word count as I work through this manuscript so that I will be reacquainted with it when I pick up where I left off.

But this rewriting hasn’t been all that difficult. The rewriting I made to a manuscript a couple of months ago, at the request of an agent, was. I had to make changes to a story I had fallen in love with while I wrote it. Some changes were easy and didn’t bother me, others I wanted to leave the way they were.

The hardest part of rewriting though came when I discovered that using the find and replace all options on my computer landed me in a whole heap of problems. It took my manuscript and made it so full of mistakes that it looked like the whole thing was underlined for misspelled words.

And I managed to miss that until long after I’d sent it in for review.

Thank you, God, for an understanding agent. When I figured out what had happened I sent in a fixed copy and an explanation very afraid she was going to tell me that my chance to have that manuscript looked at was over. I was very grateful when she understood.

Oh, the lessons I have learned on this journey of writing.

What has been the biggest mistake you’ve made as a writer or in your profession?