I'm not. I am still that 20 something kid in my mind, who wears her heart on her sleeve daily. The one with a huge conscience, who turned herself in for an accident no one saw. The girl who cannot stand it if she thinks someone doesn't like her. That girl who wants to love and be loved unconditionally.
Just when I thought my book was ready for public consumption, I was told differently, by several wonderful people who, thankfully, don't pull punches. I have struggled daily with the rewrites to the point of crying myself to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I know they are right, but it especially difficult, for me any way, to see my hard work torn asunder.
Last night I was given wonderful advice by two different people, both of whom I look up to. Both are younger than me, but so much more level headed than I seem to be at the moment. This was after taking another kick in the assterick by the one beautiful person helping me fix the storyline. (I <3 her and thank the Goddess she has stuck with me through all my temper tantrums) One person told me to listen to everything, but to remember to keep it in my voice. I will and thank you! The other person is an up and coming New York Times Best Selling author and she gave me this very sound advice:
I think one of the biggest complaints people have about 1st time writers is that the story drags. That there are unnecessary scenes in the book that do nothing to drive the story forward. Every single chapter, every single scene you have, should be moving the story strongly forward and should have a purpose leading to the final resolution of the story. If you could cut a particular scene out and the story would still make complete sense, it doesn't belong in there at all. Even in a romance, every single scene should have action compelling the story and character forward. In a simple sense, something important should always be happening, even if it's just a character finally becoming self-aware.
Keep in mind that you will improve as a writer with every book. Your first one will not be awesome, probably. Mine wasn't. (Some would argue that none of mine are. lol) I had to go back to my first book and make some big changes after getting reader feedback about POV issues, telling not showing, etc. It's all a part of the process of becoming a better writer, something that should never stop happening for you.
The most important thing is to have readers who do not know you and don't care about you as a person and who read in the genre you're writing in be your beta readers. They are the only ones who will and can give you good feedback. Friends and family are the worst people to get feedback from. They're too connected to you and likely not your market.
So, moving forward, I will put my big girl pants on and rewrite, edit, chop and cut, remove meaningless characters, and so forth without complaint (I hope). I want my first book to not crash and burn. I want readers to think, "WOW! I want more!" Most of all, I want to be one of those lucky few whose first book is worth reading and the characters, even though they are fictional, feel real in the mind of the reader.
