Two steps forward, two steps back.

Been working hard on Pirouette the Third. Problem is, I’ve started to overanalyze everything, so much that I’ve talked myself out of countless scenes, and today I almost killed a character.  Well, not literally killed — more like I almost removed her from the story altogether, totally convinced that she wasn’t needed and the sequel didn’t need her specifically as the protagonist.

WRONG.  I’ve also decided to STOP worrying.  Write now.  Worrying and analyzation are for revision.  I’m at 65k and the last 5k or so has been hard won.  I can’t see past this need to be perfect, and that has to stop because I’ll never be.  The story could be as close to perfect as possible, if I work hard enough on it.  But now is not the time to try.  I just need to get this 3rd draft done and then I can reassess everything.

Also, edits/rewrites during drafting are the kiss of death for me.  With a few exceptions (I can count them on one hand), I just can’t do it.  It derails me.  I can’t move forward.  Jumping around works occasionally, but I wanted to try to do this linear.  I think it will be less messy that way.

So….I decided to leave the character in and just tweak the dialogue to reflect what’s going on in this draft.  So many balls to keep in the air.  It’s crazy, but I do love it.  Just not when I hate it.

So this is me resolving to MOVE FORWARD.  Write now.  Worry later.