Friday, February 3, 2023

I Should Not Write the Two Months After a Parent's Funeral

I was doing one last proofing pass on Invasion! before formally launching it. And I got to the last four chapters and wondered, "What the fuck was I thinking?"

When I checked my calendar, I realized they had been written shortly after my mother's funeral back in October. *facepalm* Seriously, there were sentences in there that made absolutely no sense. And none of this registered in my brain when I did the first editing pass back in November.

So I've spent the last couple of days, well, not really fixing the book. More like re-writing the last quarter of it.

I know there are times I don't hit the mark with readers. But despite some people's reviews, I do try to put out a quality product. This is one of those times where I needed to take a step back, kick myself in the ass, and fix the damn book.

It's going to be another week or so before Invasion! is released.

2 comments:

  1. OH!

    What a neat lesson!

    I know that journaling - even fiction journaling - is often recommended as a way to improve mental health - and your post really shows that well. If your mental and emotional health impacted your writing, then the reverse can also be true.

    Additionally, what you noticed also shows that our emotional health impacts far deeper than we realize sometimes.

    My family tends to drive themselves hard with work when we grieve. And at times we scream at ourselves if we have moments of being lost within ourselves and not focused/working. I'm one of these, actually, in both cases. I think understand a little more now, given what you found, that I/we should be a bit more gentle with ourselves when something has happened.
    Our creativity and all our tasks related to it, are ships on the sea of our hearts. When the storms come, the sailing is different.

    I'm really sorry for your losses - and I hope that joy finds you more frequently. (((Hugs)))

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    1. Yeah, I'm like your family. If something's wrong, I bury myself in an activity. Usually writing makes me feel better, but in this situation, my brain wiring was affected at levels I didn't realize I had.

      Self care is important! Especially after a major loss. Thank you for caring, Dee!

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