Should I Edit an Old Manuscript or Start a New One?

The idea of talking about this came from one of our Write for a Reason students. She asked me this excellent question: "My question concerns what target I should set myself in my writing. I know I've made some progress over the last few years, and hopefully a bit more as a result of your course [The Write for a Reason Academy]. Now I need to decide to be motivated to focus on a new story, or new draft of a previous one, so any guidance you can give me on this would be helpful."

Are you familiar with this dilemma? I certainly am! When we have come to the end of a particular writing project, or want to go back to writing after a break, there is a decision to be made. Should I re-write a manuscript that never get published, write the ending to a partly-written story we neglected to finish, or start something completely new?

It's an issue that can grind us to complete inactivity if we're not sure of the way forward!

We spend so long hopping from one to the other without any clarity, that we end up feeling disillusioned and out of focus… so much so that we can stop writing altogether if we’re not careful.

 And that’s a disaster we definitely want to avoid!

I can't, of course, make this decision for you, but personally I think (feel free to disagree!) that re-writing old stories has limited value - their main value was in the practice.

If we are continuing to learn our craft, each story we write will be better than the one before, so my advice would be to start something you are really enthusiastic about, (putting into practice all the tips you have gleaned since your last story; better dialogue, a tighter plot, more engaging characters, for example) and set yourself a target so that you finish it.

What do you think?

So… Are you happy writing your current story? Are you tempted to give up? Let me know!

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Don't put it off – today is a gift to use wisely! Only you can write your book, and if you have been called to write, someone's waiting for it.