FEAR

They say sitting down and formulating a story is one of the hardest things to do. And the ubiquitous "they" are right. Stories careen through my head daily, yearning to be told. But though the ideas are there, it's difficult to put those words to paper much less flush out a full story with interesting characters, dialogue, and plot points. Yet I have to say handing over my work yesterday was harder than writing it. I've spent 16 months working on my most recent project and I fear the time being a waste if it's pure and utter crap. I have taken to heart and learned from the previous critiques of my work, implementing those changes. Sending my latest work to Mich was easy since she'll review it from a reader's perspective. She's been harsh in the past which I've needed, but she has previously read the first section of this story and enjoyed it. It was harder to hand the material to my next set of reviewers. Reviewer A is one of my favorite reviewers and I truly respect her opinion. Reviewer B is reviewing and editing the material. She loved the first sentence, but had problems with the second. Reviewer C is an amazing editor, but doesn't regularly read the genre. Fear has set in. I keep trying to reassure myself that it's a vast improvement from my previous work. I feel that the storyline is better than some of the material I've read recently. And I know every author goes through many editing stages. I need to shoo away the doubts and move forward. I'll share the reviews once I have them. And in the meantime, I plan to focus on my project for NanoWrimo next week. But I can't deny FEAR is a predominate emotion right now.