It’s all just labels anyway. I’ve previously written about how, in their strictest sense, there’s almost no difference between them anyway.
As long as you end up with usable words on the page, it doesn’t really matter the method you employed to get them there.
I did this to examine my progress to date, in order to adjust course as necessary, and better plan for success.
Even though I had a thorough outline, I pantsed my way through a significant portion of my WIP’s first draft.
Now that I am some five drafts deep into revision, I find myself pinch-hitting for Team Pantser once again.
TV sitcom Home Improvement characters Al (left) and Tim (right)
One post is nowhere near enough words to cover my insights on this process, which is still in progress.
One particular insight has taken me all the way back to the 1990s.
Fourth (left) and partial sixth (right) drafts of my WIP
The end.
But of course that’s not the end at all. Indeed, the realization of how wretched having your work critiqued can be is only just the beginning of a new stage of your writing journey.
(Continued from Part 1)
More specifically, that post was about all the things I demanded of prospective members in order to prove their interest, commitment, and ability to do the necessary work of critiquing.
I’ve always found this perspective unduly negative and deterministic. Yes, many people may suffer setbacks in their yearly goals during February. Yet it’s also widely agreed that “If at first you don’t succeed…” is a valid approach to life.
For a long time, this has been my way in every form of writing that I do, from emails to work memos, from “short” stories to “short” novels.
“I’m looking forward to 2016. Even-numbered years are always great years.”
To be honest, I’m not even sure what data I was basing that assessment on. When I think of recent even-numbered years, no especially noteworthy occurrences immediately spring to mind.
A Frame Around Infinity 