Fare Thee Well

An old manuscript was calling to me last week, so I went digging around to find it, pull it out and take a look at it. I loved this book idea, and had written about 80 pages and a pretty detailed outline. But as I reread it, the voice felt flat to me. I still love the idea, but either my passion for it had evaporated or some vital element that I had in my head never made it onto the paper. Or....perhaps simply the perfect culmination of interests, compulsion, and vision that begets a story had grown in a different direction.

Oddly, there was a great sense of relief as I put this manuscript aside. It was a lovely reminder that I don’t have to write EVERY idea that comes into my head. I can have a lovely little fling with a particular idea or story, then once it has served its purpose, put it away and let that be that.

Of course, I don’t really know what purpose it served—perhaps it was a creative outlet while I was working on other, contracted projects, perhaps I was simply trying to stretch my writing muscles (it was a synthesis of many different genres, a historical, chick lit, fantasy, demon/occult romance thing). I am relatively confident that nothing is ever wasted in writing, however, so I don't begrudge the time I spent on this project.

Mostly it just feels good to have one less thing calling to me.