The Trendsetter

The novel has been written.

Now it’s time to put it aside for a week and do something you enjoy the most—read your favorite novel, magazines or just get together with friends for a good time. You need to rest as much as possible so when you return to your manuscript, you’ll approach it with a fresh mind. Are you ready?

Go!

“But I’m not ready yet,” you say.
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Indeed.

You need to be alone—just you and the notebook computer in front of you, the cursor blinking faithfully waiting for you to start your first stroke of the keyboard.

You need to be alone. Just you, surrounded by books on writing, as friends and as a portable writing coach—to help you navigate your plot. And you’re dying to be outside, to be with others.

No one but you can get the job done.
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While sitting here editing my manuscript in excruciating pain and misery, I wondered why I wrote this piece of fiction in the first place. And if you’re asking the same question like me, then you’re not alone. Rewriting, editing or whatever you name your revision process for your draft brings out all sort of emotional angst—now that you’re forced to look at your manuscript through a cold eye.

The fun of writing just ended. Now the real task begins.
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For those who are currently writing their manuscript — especially a novel, you know what I’m talking about. Yes, what to write in the middle of the novel. The first several chapters are easy to write and you know roughly about the ending or even have several options for it. Yet, you’re stuck in the middle.

For the first time writer, the novel usually has a beginning, middle and ending. So I’m talking about the middle section.
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I saw him for the first time on TV during the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston. And only later did I learn that he wrote a couple of books– Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance and The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

I just don’t pay attention to politicians who write books. They’re all about politics and I’m not really interested in politics anyway.

Then he ran for President of The United States. My curiosity about him increased. So I decided to get both the books he wrote. I chose to read Dreams from My Father first.
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