Under The Bed

That's where every manuscript belongs, at least for a while. My Tuesday Tip for today is this: when you finish a manuscript, stick it under the bed, in the closet, in the attic, or in the basement. Wherever you choose (even if it's in the dark corners of your hard drive), stick it somewhere. It needs to sit for a bit. Until you allow it to do that, you won't be able to see its faults or its strengths. When you come back to it, it will be like seeing that relative you haven't seen in a really long time. He's aged, or she's lost weight, or he's grown, etc. Time and distance make you notice these things. So, while your manuscript is sitting, move on to a new project. Be sure you write every day. How else will you get better? If you need motivation to write every day, go visit my blog friend, Patti Nielson. She's encouraging you to keep track of how much time you spend actually writing every day. I have to admit, I'm not off to a very good start. Yesterday, I spent nill, nada, the big fat zero, absolutely no time writing. How sad is that? Very sad, if you ask me. Today will be better, though! Okay, do you have any old manuscripts hiding under your bed? If so, have you taken a look at them lately? If so, I bet they look a little different than they did before.