What’s the one thing about your writing career you regret the most?

What’s the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?

I still think the book I published was longer than it needed to be. And while I’d read, and read, and re-read it, editing it multiple times and pairing it down, there were still parts I couldn’t let go. Makes me wonder if I would have done better if I’d let it sit for a few months and then returned back to it to edit and pair it down more.

After the initial publishing, I did revisit it once. I know they say “don’t look back” or don’t go back to a published work, but it was bothering me! So I reviewed it once again, asked for others to help, fixed more spelling or grammatical errors, removed more unnecessary scenes and then republished it with a better looking cover. I still am not entirely satisfied, but does the obsession stop?! So I decided to leave it as it is now and accept it.

But going forward, my WIPs will take more time, where I’ll reflect more on the story, let it sit. Mull it over and then eventually return to it. Eventually…

The one thing I’m struggling with in my writing career now? Actually writing. LOL

I received some advice from another author: just write. Start with one word a day, but write.

I get it. The idea is to make it a habit, something that eventually doesn’t require effort to make time for.

But when I take that approach, I feel like this…

I need to tell myself to just do it. Don’t think of the sentence structures or even the content. Just write. Right? Stop being critical at the beginning. There’ll be plenty of time for that during the horrid editing process. Blech.

Yeah, yeah, I should be writing. I’ll get to it. I promise.