Writing - It's A Process

(via weheartit.)

I'm on draft 3* of the sister story and things are, maybe, starting to come together. I mean, don't get me wrong, for the most part it still feels like a first draft in how totally lost I am and how I feel like I'm walking further and further into a dark tunnel just hoping that there'll be a light at the end but I'm starting to suspect it's not a tunnel at all but instead a dark and scary cave! Full of monsters! This is how it feels sometimes. But other times I think maybe I see a flicker of light and things are going to come together after all.

It's a process. I have to remind myself of this every day, multiple times. It's a process, and even though today I might not have any idea what I'm doing and why is this scene sooo horrible? really this scene is a stepping stool. Every word -- even the horrible ones that I delete the next day -- are part of the process, helping me to focus in on what the story really is and realize what matters v. what doesn't matter.

It's a process has become my writing mantra. I continually have to remind myself that every word is one word closer to something pretty and shiny, a story I'll want an agent for, a story I'd be proud to have on the shelves. A story I desperately want to be on the shelves, that I want people to buy and read and recommend. The story isn't there yet. But it's getting there.

So I ask you, what is your writing mantra/motto? Do you have one?

*Technically draft 4. More technically draft 2 and 2 halves (not 3). It's super-confusing, I know.