Sunday, March 1, 2015

Respecting the Process

Like many things, writing (that is, writing with the aim of publication) is a process. It's a pretty established one at this point, so I don't think you need me to rehash it for you.

I'm either patient or impatient, depending on what we're talking about. Working in IT for years has taught me patience with respect to technology. It's also taught me to respect (and use) the troubleshooting process.

The issue is, I want to jump the process with respect to writing.

I'm in a writing group. It's a good group. I've gotten some very useful feedback on my first mystery novel there. I'd like to get the book completely thru the group and have feedback on the whole thing. However, that takes time. Months, in fact. Here's where my impatience kicks in. Getting the book thru the group would make it better. Making it better would increase my odds of getting an agent if I go the traditional route. I understand that.

I'm just hoping I'm patient enough to see it through.

A compromise might be to get a couple of beta readers. The group is good, but we meet once every three or four weeks, and it will take a while to get the complete book thru in one or two-chapter chunks.

So, loyal readers: should I be patient or impatient? Or is the compromise choice the best one. Sound off.

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