Cold clear light of day

[pbray]

As a former programmer, I remember the brilliant ideas that occurred at the end of an eighteen hour shift that then morphed into "What was I thinking?" once I had achieved sleep. A bit like waking up next to someone and wondering why on earth you found them attractive last night.

Had the writer's version of this syndrome this morning. Last night I printed out a chapter to give to my first reader for critiquing. Idly skimming it as I drank my coffee, I soon found one awkward phrase. Then another. Then a really shitty paragraph.

Sigh.

The chapter is now marked up for revisions. Hopefully by this weekend it will be ready to be seen in public.

Comments

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

I've developed a definite feel for when to read my stuff and when not to; I know what energy I've got at that time and whether it will see things in a good light or bad light. I guess before sending off to beta readers is a good time to see bad stuff and fix it. But sometimes I feel that I'll see too much as bad and tinker with stuff that ain't broke (and mess up some really good connection I've forgotten about).

For me it's partly where my own physical energy is (tired, hungry, whatever) and partly how long since I wrote a piece. The emotional energy that went into it needs time to replenish. Even the best movie or published book would look bad if I saw it twice in the same day.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I always do better after I get some distance from what I've written-- the initial reaction is often at one extreme or the other: "This is great!" or "This completely sucks!"

Having a first reader can be helpful because it confirms where you merely need to tweak things, and where you've gone totally off the rails.

In this case the scene wasn't horrible, but it was definitely not up to my standards.