I spent about four hours yesterday editing the fifth scene in my novel. At the end of that time, I realized something.
The scene doesn't belong in the book.
At least, not as it stands. It's about half backstory and half conflict, and the reason it took me four hours to do was because I was trying to meld them together. And they refused to meld.
The two beautiful things?
a) I RECOGNIZED that the scene doesn't belong in the book.
b) I am not upset with myself for putting in the four hours, thereby not getting any other scenes finished.
This is revolutionary for me. I usually do find that "waste of time" very frustrating. Not this time, and I think it's because I'm learning to look at my own work from a bit of a distance. They're great words, and there are some great moments in the scene, but it doesn't further the cause of the book itself and so it must go.
And I wrote its replacement today and I love it. :)
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