Author | Joseph L. Selby

Do I Still Count?

When was the last time I wrote something original? I’m trying to remember and quite frankly, I can’t. I edited the TRIAD SOCIETY then I revised JEHOVAH’S HITLIST then I started rewriting WANTED: CHOSEN ONE and now I’m doing yet another pass on JEHOVAH’S HITLIST. Somewhere in there I wrote six chapters of THE 7TH SACRIFICE but I honestly can’t remember when that was. It must have been January because I remember finishing JH right before Christmas.

It’s been two months since I wrote something for a brand new story. The last time that happened it was the beginning of ’09. It feels weird to have that absence, like I’ve given up being original and just dwelling on work I’ve already done. But that can’t be, JH is a brand new story! It’s never been queried. But I finished it in December. Hell, I should be 2/3 of the way through a new draft of a new story!

This is so outside my normal method of writing that it doesn’t feel like I’m writing at all. I write [edit] every day but it doesn’t feel like I’m doing anything at all.


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4 responses to “Do I Still Count?”

  1. Nate Wilson

    Don't feel bad. I haven't written anything for a brand new story in two months, either. (Then again, I haven't been editing my old stories like you have. Crap, instead of making you feel better, I just made myself feel worse. I needs to get back to my stories. I wonder if they'll notice if I start working on those at work. I also wonder if Joe will notice I never used a closing parenthesis.

  2. Joseph L. Selby

    HA HA HA, no I did not. I had to go back and check. 🙂

  3. Elizabeth Poole

    Don't feel bad! Writing is rewriting (yes, I totally did just pull that cliche out for you)

    Even if you're not writing something new, you're still working on your books. And I think revision teaches us a lot about our writing that we couldn't have learned otherwise. Things that you can apply to future MS and improve them.

  4. Ted Cross

    I've only written two new chapters in the past year, and they were each for a different book!

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