I decided to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo (which started 7/1) and was perusing the site and the Q&A for some motivation. I am also still in my anxious waiting period for my first novel (and surreptitiously doing even more revisions).
This quote and link from Melissa DeCarlo, a published NaNoWriMo author is apt for my situation–and maybe for yours too. I, too, submitted a “good first draft” of my first novel to a contest in 2006.Of course, I didn’t win. While the rejection letter wasn’t specific or helpful, the rejection itself caused me to (after a few months) go back and look at what I’d done. And yes, I had a good first draft, but it needed a lot more to be a realized viable novel. What ensued was (off and on) 10 years of creative process to get to this point–confidence in my new MS.
If you haven’t yet heard this snippet about the creative process, you need to. Ira Glass discusses the importance of not giving up when the gap between what we love and what we produce looks insurmountable. Not only is this absolutely true, I think we writers have an additional temptation, and that’s giving in to the urge to publish work before it’s ready.
Melissa’s full essay is here.