WEBVTT
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:11.039
Welcome to Leftyobe's Writing Podcast where I share with vulnerability and positivity my journey towards making all of my writing dreams come true.
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:16.719
I hope you learn with me as I go from the things that go well and what doesn't go so well.
00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:22.160
But mainly I wish it inspires you to pursue your own writing dreams.
00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.920
Now let's begin.
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.079
Hello and welcome to Lefty Obeys Writing Podcast.
00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.920
I'm so glad that you're here today.
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:38.000
If you've been following the podcast for some time now, you may have seen that there was a little gap in the posting.
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.200
And it's not because I'm going back to the super irregular postings.
00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:51.039
It's just because you know life happened, there was some holidays, and then family life really got crazy.
00:00:51.280 --> 00:01:06.319
So I decided to pick a stay back, refocus my energy the little time I had, put it at the right place, and that turned out to be my novel, my writing, my art, knowing that I would come back when the timing would be right.
00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:07.599
And this was it.
00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.640
Today I woke up and I was like, I want to do the podcast today.
00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:12.159
I really felt called to it.
00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:17.200
We'll see, but I think you will be able to see this on video on Apple Podcasts.
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:22.319
You can go and check right now, maybe it's already available by the time this episode is posted.
00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:40.879
But I've been working on making this available because this podcast admin video for quite a few episodes right now, and it was on Spotify, but the majority of my listenership is on Apple Podcasts, so the videos weren't really viewed, and I haven't figured out YouTube yet.
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.840
We'll sort this out in time, but at least Apple Podcasts would be available.
00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.680
So this is really fun to me.
00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:53.840
So if you'd like to see me instead of just hearing me, the option is or will be available soon.
00:01:54.079 --> 00:02:08.080
As of the reason why I've been away in the entire notion of going back to the art first, this is going to be the topic of my future newsletter, which I will send maybe this week, maybe next week, I don't know.
00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:16.479
But on my newsletter, I send exclusive content that I don't share on social media that I don't share here on this podcast.
00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.800
It's solely for the newsletter.
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:31.039
If you want to read what it's all about and where my reflection came from with taking a break from the podcast during the crazy times, you can go and subscribe to the newsletter right now.
00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:35.840
There's a link in the show notes, and you will be able to know what happened.
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:42.080
And also in the show notes, you can find the link to the Ko-Fi for the podcast.
00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:50.159
So if you enjoy the podcast and you want to support it, you want to help me to cover the cost of the podcast, which would be so appreciated.
00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:58.000
You can go on the Ko-Fi, you can either give a one-time donation or become a member or subscriber to the podcast.
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:05.280
There is few options available of perks and things that you can get in exchange of being a Ko-Fi member.
00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.439
Yeah, I think that's how they call them.
00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:09.360
So you can go there and check that out.
00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:11.439
The link again will be in the show notes.
00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:18.479
Before I go into the topic part of the episode, which will be it's not shitty, it's just unfinished.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:24.639
And I wanted to talk about this because this is discussion I've been having with my friends, my writer friends lately.
00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:41.039
It's something that comes back all the time, and it's also something I have to remind myself constantly, especially right now that I'm in the editing phase, and some things look really good and other things really don't look good, and it's something I have to keep reminding myself.
00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:56.400
And it had been in the lineup for the podcast for some time, but this morning I was like, no, this is the time to talk about this, because I really believe it's something that will be valuable to any writers at any stage, it's something we always need to remember.
00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:59.520
It's not shitty, it's just unfinished.
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:05.039
So this will be in the topic part of the episode, but first, here's my update.
00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:15.599
So I've been working on my novel, even though I've been posting less on social media and haven't been so much present here with the podcast or even in my newsletter.
00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.360
It's because I was focusing the little time I had on my novel.
00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:20.800
It's my priority.
00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:30.399
I decided to make a first draft pass, making the big changes that I know I need to do according to the story grid methodology in my scene.
00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:37.360
So I've written a first draft, my agent read it along with some trusted better readers who I'm so grateful to have.
00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:39.759
They are my friends and they are amazing.
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:51.199
And they read my novel, they gave me feedback, and now I'm going back, I'm analyzing every scene according to the story grid methodology, and then I'm applying the change.
00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:58.079
So at first, I wanted to just analyze and make notes about the change, and then do all the changes.
00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:11.360
So the story grid changes, the changes that my better reader suggested, and the line editing, I wanted to do it all in one go, all in one draft past, but it turned out to just be too much.
00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:17.920
I think I could already see that it would be a too big a draft pass to address everything in just one go.
00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:25.199
So I decided for this current draft pass, I'm applying the story grid in analyzing the story with the story grid.
00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:31.360
I'm making a plan and I'm acting on the plan, including also everything my better readers mentioned.
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:42.160
So I've been going back, I've edited the scenes that I hadn't made notes with the story grid, with the changes for my better readers, and I hit a big wall.
00:05:42.399 --> 00:06:17.360
It was my third scene, it was the fourth scene of the novel, because there was a prologue, so the first third of the real scenes, if you want, and it was the introduction to my second POV character, so it was a bit like the first scene in some ways, because the reader needs to attach to this POV as my first POV, so I really needed to hit this scene, and I just couldn't make it, and it took me three weeks to manage to make a plan for this scene and then apply the plan.
00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.439
I'm going to go deeper into this in the next episode, I think.
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:23.519
I'll see how I feel about it all then.
00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:32.160
But I'm going to talk about this concept of why it took me so long to finish editing this scene, and I've did it.
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.879
I'm really proud of how it looks right now, and I'm so grateful that I've gotten there.
00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.600
But it took me a long while and it was necessary, and that's what I want to talk about.
00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:51.040
How sometimes it can seem like it's just writing a scene, but there are so many things underneath that you need to figure out before you can write the scene, and that's basically what I did.
00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:52.560
So I will go deeper into that.
00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:00.800
But I finally finished that scene, so now I'm moving on to scene four, which I hope, let's hope, uh, will be less long.
00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:11.920
I I really think it will be, and I think it will move faster from then, but it's all about going slowly, steadily, but I'm making progress, and that's important, and I'm showing up to the novel too.
00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:18.079
And sometimes that's the only thing you can do, just one bite at a time, and you're going at it.
00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.839
And I did the homework I talked about in last episode.
00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:25.439
So if you haven't listened to the previous episode, go listen to it.
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:39.600
And the homework was to analyze the first POV chapter in Game of Thrones because that's done so well, and see the similarities and the pattern there to allow me to do the same thing with my story, and that proved invaluable.
00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:42.079
Like, I'm so grateful that I did this exercise.
00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:59.439
That's what allowed me to crack it because I saw that in each of those scenes there was the setting there to tell us something really precise about the character, and we couldn't have not known this element about the character if it wasn't for the setting and the setup of the scene.
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:12.560
And also there was something happening, so the turning was a break in status quo for this character, like it happened for every character that I analyzed in the first novel, A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire.
00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:19.279
I did that and it really, really helped, and I figured out that there was many things about the character I needed to know, etc.
00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.600
So I will go back another time.
00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:25.360
But I've done my own work and it proved really helpful.
00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:28.000
So I wanted to report back on this.
00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:44.879
Also, on the short story side, I've received four rejections for my short stories since the last time I recorded on two different stories, and I wrote those stories years ago, like more than five years ago.
00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:46.240
I still love them.
00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:47.679
I love them dearly.
00:08:47.840 --> 00:09:02.480
One of them got really close to being published, and the ontology didn't work out, the other one never got close, but I really love them a lot, so that's why I kept on submitting them, thinking okay, maybe this is just about finding the run magazine.
00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:15.840
But I I'm seeing that I'm getting tired of judging where I am right now in my career based on stories I wrote five years ago, and even one of those ones, it's one of the ones I wrote like 10 years ago.
00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:26.399
When I'm getting a rejection for those stories, it feels like it's a rejection of the writer that I am today, but it's not, it's a rejection from the writer I was five years ago, ten years ago.
00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.879
I felt like it was working a bit on my confidence, to be honest.
00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:46.960
I thought back to the stories, like not the overlook, because this was like the overlook story was, you know, uh, you can go back and listen to past episode also for this, but it was a really difficult market to get in, and it's with one shot that I had to get it published.
00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:54.960
So, of course, like I cannot base on this, but the story I wrote just before that, a flash fiction, I managed to get published just like that.
00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:16.320
So I'm like, okay, maybe this is not about anything about me, but it's just I need to let those stories go for now, and maybe when I get more of a name in the industry, I know that ontologies will come to you and ask you to contribute to their antologies, or I can just like maybe rework the story and resend it.
00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:26.799
I don't know, but it just felt like taking the time to submit it, even though it's not that big of a time, was just not like the best usage of my time, again, because it's limited.
00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:29.200
So that's what I decided to do for now.
00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:51.200
And even though I had an idea for a short story, and there was a call for an anthology that it would have fitted perfectly into, I really decided to keep my focus on the project that really excites me right now, and that I feel like both excites me and that I have fun working on, but also that they can move the needle in my career.
00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:53.759
I think both of those things are still important.
00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:59.600
And my agent is waiting on this version of the story that we can submit to editors.
00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:08.159
I know there are editors who really love my first novel who will be eager to read this one, so it really feels like my energy is better placed on this project.
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.200
So that's basically it for the update part of the podcast.
00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:17.360
Not much to say since I was just turning away at this scene.
00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.080
But now we're moving forward.
00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.919
And so now the topic of the episode, it's not shitty, it's just unfinished.
00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:39.039
If you've been in the writing community for some time, you must have heard the sentence shitty first draft.
00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.919
It was popularized by Anne Lamotte.
00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:43.679
I think it's in Bird by Bird.
00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.320
I haven't checked out, but I know it's her.
00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:54.960
She used this as a way of saying the first draft will not be perfect, and don't expect it to be.
00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:02.159
So expect it to be a shitty first draft, and she she said she writes shitty first draft, and that's how it was introduced.
00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.679
I love the concept for the fact that it lowers the pressure on the first draft.
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:21.360
Because we experience as a reader a book linearly as its published version, we can't have this weird impression that it was written exactly as that.
00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:28.799
Like the writer really sat down and typed word by word in this order, and then boom, it went to print.
00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:34.799
Again, if you've been anywhere near the publishing industry, you know that it's not how it works.
00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:41.120
And if you have attempted and managed to write a novel, you probably know that it's not how it works.
00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:50.080
Writing a novel is a process of you write and you go back and you edit and you add things and you remove things and you cut scenes and you add scenes.
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.720
It's the process of always we're working with the same words, and it's okay like that.
00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:56.559
That's how it's supposed to be.
00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:07.840
But somehow I think we all end up at the same place where we're plotter, pencer, anywhere the way that we can approach our first draft.
00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:16.720
We all still always end up wanting it to be better than it will actually be, and it will always disappoint us.
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:25.360
No matter how good our first draft are, they will always disappoint us because they are always farther away from the finish mark that we would love them to be.
00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.279
That's just a fact of life.
00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:42.720
So there is something about saying shitty first draft that really allows to lower this pressure of the first draft, doesn't need to be that close to the finishing line, that close to the version who will be published and consumed by readers.
00:13:43.120 --> 00:14:08.159
But there is underneath that notion, and again, going back to in episode 18, I thought about the thoughts hygiene and the importance of the words that you tell yourself about your project, the thoughts that you have, the conversation you have with other people, choosing your words is really important for how you will see the project.
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.360
You will see your heart, you will see your career and your journey.
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:21.679
Saying that your first draft is or even is supposed to be shitty, it includes this part of negativity to it.
00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:29.440
The notion of seeing it as just unfinished, I feel just puts it just in a different way.
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:34.000
It's about not judging your work as you go and saying, is it good or not?
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:35.440
Is it shitty or not?
00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:43.519
It's just unfinished and it isn't supposed to be judged on merits, on quality before it's finished.
00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.759
And I think the nuance is all there.
00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:53.840
And the moment where we get a bit discouraged when we're writing a first draft, or even when we're editing, I'm still there more often than I would like.
00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:07.039
You're writing, you're editing, because you've read a lot of novels, because you've read about the craft, you can't help yourself but to judge the work that you are creating and seeing its flaws.
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.960
It's inevitable flaws because it's not finished.
00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:21.919
And that frustrated me when I heard my friends say that their first draft or the novel they were working on was shitty or was not good or anything because I was like, you cannot say that right now.
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:22.879
It's not finished.
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.559
Of course it doesn't work, but it doesn't matter, we don't care.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:32.879
And it got me really frustrated when I heard people I love saying those words about the creation.
00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:36.480
I knew in my heart when they would finish would be good.
00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.720
So it was like, why are you judging it right now?
00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:39.759
It's not finished.
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.879
And that's where I came up with the metaphor of building a house.
00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.039
So my partner is a carpenter.
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:51.679
We've built, I say we, but it's like a we that it's clothed myself a lot.
00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.440
I was there like in my project management, but that's a lot.
00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:56.960
It was all my partner.
00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:01.360
He built two our first house in the house that we live in right now.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:02.559
He built it all.
00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:18.720
And because I was there and I saw the process, it got me thinking of how when it was just a hole in the ground, I wouldn't say to him, but why didn't you put any windows in?
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.240
Of course he will not put the windows in.
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.360
They're just digging the hole where the foundation will be.
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.919
So he doesn't care about the windows.
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:37.440
And if I were to come in, or if it was a little voice in his mind saying, But you don't have windows, this isn't really a house.
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:47.840
It would, it would first it would make no sense, but if it was like hit him misconfidence in the actual house of how it will look like, that would hurt.
00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:56.240
And I'm thinking, like, this is like big saying, okay, there is no windows when it's a hole in the ground, but so this is compared to the first draft.
00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:02.240
Like saying your sentence aren't pretty enough, flowing enough, you're using a lot of repetition.
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:10.079
Saying that at the first draft level is exactly like saying, but you don't have windows on a house that's just a hole in the ground.
00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:11.839
That's exactly the same thing.
00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.359
So that's why the notion of unfinished is so important.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.279
But it goes deeper than that.
00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:23.519
Because at the first draft level, we can give ourselves some slack with time, with experience.
00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:32.880
But when we get further on in the editing process, for example, where I am, I have visibly like three draft paths left in front of me, minimum, maybe four.
00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:44.799
So I have the story grid one I'm doing, I have the line editing one, I have the one with my friends better reader, who accepted to read every scene and give me feedback, including a friend who hasn't read it yet.
00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:50.000
So she will have her first approach to the novel will be this new version.
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:54.240
So I want to know how she feels about it when she hasn't read the previous version.
00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:00.400
And then I will edit according to their comment, and then I will send it to my agent who will also make comments.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:20.799
So I have four draft paths left in front of me before I can say it's finished, and even then, when it sells, it will, when it sells with the publisher, the publisher will also have his editor go in and give some suggestion, and then there will be a copy editor who will also come in and do it.
00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:53.359
There is so many still draft paths before this is the thing that people end up reading one day that I cannot have in my head that I see the flaws and let that make me think that what I'm writing is not good, but I don't know why, it always comes in, and it's the equivalent, me right now saying I really don't enjoy the way I'm showing emotion right now, like it's more told and showed, and I really want the reader to feel the emotion in the current draft past that I am.
00:18:53.519 --> 00:19:30.400
I know that I'm not achieving that, and being furiated at myself or worried or concerned at myself that right now this isn't accomplished in my draft, is exactly if when my partner has done what we call in Quebec the the rough, I don't know what it is in English, maybe it's rough too, but it's basically you just have the walls and the roof and the division inside and the floor inside, but inside the house and even outside, it's all just wood, it's just apparent wood, like there's nothing but the very rough wood everywhere.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:40.880
The house looks like a house, exactly like my novel right now looks like a novel, it has all the rooms it will have, and we can see what it will look like.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.319
This is the same place I am, basically, with my novel.
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:48.319
Maybe a bit farther along, but just let's go with this.
00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:57.759
If at that point I came inside to visit the house my partner was building, and I were to say, but the floors are ugly.
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.599
What why did you put those those floors in?
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:07.279
What he would say, rightfully so, is I'm not at this part of the process yet.
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:17.839
This is the floor we put in first, and it's on top of those floors that we will put the real floors that you will see all your life that I have right there, if you're looking on the video.
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.880
Um, and actually, there's even a reason why he doesn't put those right away.
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:26.160
It's because you want to put the paint on the wall first.
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:34.880
Because if there is any splashes of paint, and there is also some people who will come in for ventilation, for electricity, for the plumbing.
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:38.079
They need to walk inside the house a lot to do their work.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:42.319
So if it was like the finished floor from the beginning, it would get destroyed.
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:46.079
It would be there for no reason, and then you would have to redo it.
00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.759
This is the exact same reason why I'm not working on this right now.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:55.279
This is the exact reason why right now I don't need to worry about my sentence looking good.
00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:03.279
Because I'm working on something bigger that I need to figure out first before I do the next step of the line editing.
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:21.839
If I tried to put on the real flooring, the hard woods right now with my novel, working on my sentence all the way, I would screw them all up because I will need to add a paragraph, remove the paragraph, change something about this character or this bait or anything, had a turning point.
00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:26.000
So it doesn't make any sense for me to spend time doing this right now.
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.079
I need to do it at the right step.
00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:43.759
So of course I cannot right now judge the quality of my book because it doesn't have all of its components that I've actually actively worked on or at least analyzed, looked at, and say, okay, this works.
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:54.160
Until the moment where my partner had done every single thing in the house to make it a house and say this house is completed, I could not judge how it looked.
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:57.759
I could not say this is a beautiful house or not because it was just finished.
00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.119
I didn't have all the components.
00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759
So why?
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:12.880
Why do we as writers judge the quality of what we are producing before we have the whole vision, before we've gone through every single step and at least analyze it?
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.000
Sometimes we have natural talents in some ways.
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:20.880
Like I know, for example, usually I don't have to do that much work on my dialogue.
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.200
The dialogue just flow really easily to me.
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:31.759
But I will still have at some point in the draft pass, I will look at the dialogue and just make sure they work the best that they can.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.279
At least you need to have done that this for every step of the process.
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:44.960
It will be emotion, character development, the plot, the foreshadowing, the description.
00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:50.720
There is so many components inside a novel that makes a novel work.
00:22:50.960 --> 00:23:00.240
If you try to make them work at once, it's like trying to put the windows and the hard floor on a house that's just a hole in the ground.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:01.359
You will not make it.
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.880
There's a reason why they build house the way that they do.
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:15.519
It's because it's the most efficient process to finish in the last cost in the last time possible and have the most beautiful, strong house that you possibly can.
00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:19.279
It's the same thing with the novel, the exact same thing.
00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:32.559
But because they are words, we tend to forget that it's exactly the same thing and that it works exactly like a house, and we need to work on it layer by layer, looking at it one at a time.
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:44.880
Or sometimes when I say I will do one draft past for a line editing, and I know I'm going to include description in there, I know I'm going to include like emotions, make sure that they are shown and not told.
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:59.519
This is all going to be one draft past, but I will still in my mind, okay, see okay, this sentence needs more work on this thing, but I will not go about it and try to do everything at this at once, it would be too much.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:07.599
I will still take time and adjust because this is how you build a strong, beautiful, amazing novel.
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:14.559
It's layer by layer, one at a time, and it's also how you're going to, even though the goal is not to save your time.
00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:17.680
And I did a reel on that video on TikTok.
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:19.200
You can go check that out.
00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:24.160
How the goal isn't to preserve your time, and it's Sissy Lira and the shit about writing.
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:29.200
I don't know which episode I should have written down in which episode she said that.
00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:38.559
But she was talking, Sissy Lira is a literary agent, and she was talking with the writer about her process and how it goes.
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:44.640
And at some point, the author went and said, Oh, but this takes more time.
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:50.720
Like what she decided to do to finish her novel was something that took more time.
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:59.599
And Cece said, But the goal is not to preserve your time, the goal is this piece of art that you're creating, and that's what she managed to do.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:05.119
And she was like, This is time well spent if it creates a better work of art.
00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:14.799
I completely agree with that, but I don't agree with wasting time at places of the process where it doesn't help the process and it doesn't help the finished product.
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:20.720
When you're working on a novel, keep in mind at all times that it's unfinished.
00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:25.839
And if you see something that doesn't work, go and just write down a note for yourself.
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:35.599
It would be like if my partner, when he was looking around the hole in the ground, was saying, Oh, I need to put those windows in, I think they are really pretty.
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:45.119
It will go and then he had like this notes on his phone where he would put like his idea and inspiration for what he wanted to do in the entire house.
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.319
And he would write down, I want those windows in.
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:51.279
That was the only thing he could do because he was not there.
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.559
So do the same thing.
00:25:52.720 --> 00:26:03.680
When you see something that doesn't work, instead of telling yourself, Oh, my first draft is shitty, my book is shitty, I'm not good, this is not good, nothing works, nothing will ever work.
00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:08.079
Just stop yourself and say, Okay, it's it's unfinished, it's just unfinished.
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.400
And this thing, take a note for yourself.
00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:15.680
Okay, when I get to this part of the process, I will go in and I will work on this thing.
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:21.519
Take notes, and that's the way you will know you won't forget the ideas that you have to or how to improve.
00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:31.839
You want to capture those ideas, you want to improve your story, but just one thing at a time and not overwhelm yourself with wanting to fix everything in one go.
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:36.319
And again, that's what I said in the previous episode where I talked about this.
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:45.920
The words that you use are so important because it can seem like, okay, I just call my work shitty or it's not good or it sucks right now.
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:49.920
And you can think that those words don't have really an impact, but they do.
00:26:50.079 --> 00:27:03.759
This is the if you keep on repeating to yourself always that your book is not good, it's not good enough, it doesn't work, it's shitty, you keep on repeating that to yourself over and over again, you could get really discouraged, and that's when you start to write less.
00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:11.680
That's when you put it on the side, that's when you have the new shiny idea syndrome because you think, oh, this is a an idea flaw.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:14.240
When it's not an idea flaw, it's just not finished.
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:19.119
So you think, okay, if I have this other idea, then my house would be beautiful.
00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:21.359
But it doesn't, I'm mixing the middle.
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:32.480
Sorry, but it's like if my partner, when he does this rough, he was like, we cannot live in this house, like it's it's like just hard wood everywhere, it's ugly, like it doesn't work.
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:42.640
And oh, you would see like another piece of land like further away, and you would say, Okay, if we build it here, like the house would be better, and then it started building another house there.
00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:45.920
No, our house was perfectly okay, it was just not finished.
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.160
That's what you do when you keep on telling yourself that it's not good, it's not good, it's not good.
00:27:50.319 --> 00:28:01.279
But if you start saying to yourself in this moment where you doubt your story or you you doubt your capacity even to do it, you just say it's just unfinished, it's not not good.
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:05.279
I don't mean to judge its quality right now, it's just unfinished.
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:09.119
Let me take a note, let me make sure that I work on this thing.
00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:20.640
It changes the attitude you have toward your work, and that could be the thing that leads you to keep on working on it and to eventually finish it because this is the goal in the end.
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:25.839
The goal in the end is to have the finished house that you could put on the market and sell.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:38.240
So if you compare your house, your novel to a house, you would say the moment where I can go and pitch it to publisher is the moment you would say a house is ready to go on market and be sold.
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:45.119
So if there is no art floors or if there are no bad tub, you cannot go and sell it.
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:46.400
You need to work on it more.
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:50.160
The goal is to have this finished product.
00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:55.680
You know, I'm always talking about this podcast in the lens of you want to be traditionally published.
00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:05.119
So it needs to be this finished thing that you can then go and try to sell either to an agent to represent you or to an editor to publish it.
00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:08.079
This is the goal to finish the book.
00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:14.960
But it's only when you are you reach that stage on your own, it's okay, there will be other people who come in.
00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:18.000
But there is a part that's just on your own with yourself.
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:23.039
There is a point where you need to yourself let it go and say, okay, it's ready for other people to come in.
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:32.640
You need to wait until you've done every step of the process yourself before you judge its quality, before you say, Okay, is it good or is it not good?
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:41.759
Of course, along the way, you will see when it's that good and you will work on it, but only judge yourself and your work when you have a finished project.
00:29:42.000 --> 00:30:00.079
And of course, another thing that will help a lot with the mindset as you're working on a novel, something that it's so long to do, it's it takes usually years to go through this entire process, it's to see the good that you're doing along the way.
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:13.920
So notice the good sentence that you write, notice the scenes that are really banging, notice this like cliffhanger that you manage to do right, because along the way you will always do some things right, and there are other things that you need to work on.
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:27.279
But if you've put your focus more on the things that you do do right along the way, it will also be more encouraging and leave the global judgment of the thing that you're creating for the moment when you're done and it's finished.
00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:31.119
So I hope this little mindset shift helps you.
00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:36.480
This way of talking about your work, of thinking about your work as you're going through.
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:47.359
Um, if it can be helpful, I know I've done it for so many things, but you get to write it on a little post-it, put it somewhere close to where you're writing so that you see it.
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:51.359
It's not shitty, it doesn't suck, it's just unfinished.
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:53.759
To remind yourself and keep that in mind.
00:30:53.920 --> 00:31:00.480
And if you found this episode useful, don't hesitate to share it with a friend who think you could who could benefit from it.
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:05.759
We can also take a screenshot and share it on your social media to tell people that you're listening.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:08.640
Don't forget to tag me if you do that at Lefty O Bay.
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:12.480
I really, really love to see that you you are listening.
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:14.079
You can also email me.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.359
The email is in the show notes if you want to say anything.
00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:21.759
I want this to be really a conversation with you all.
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:28.000
If you enjoyed the podcast, again, there is the co-fire when you can support the podcast, which I really appreciate.
00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:33.279
If you don't or you can't, you can always also subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:36.480
It's free, but it really helps the podcast to reach more people.
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:39.759
So if you enjoy it, it can be a really simple way to help.
00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:41.920
And I wish you a lovely week of writing.
00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:43.359
We'll see each other next week.
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:11.039
Welcome to Leftyobe's Writing Podcast where I share with vulnerability and positivity my journey towards making all of my writing dreams come true.
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:16.719
I hope you learn with me as I go from the things that go well and what doesn't go so well.
00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:22.160
But mainly I wish it inspires you to pursue your own writing dreams.
00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.920
Now let's begin.
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.079
Hello and welcome to Lefty Obeys Writing Podcast.
00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.920
I'm so glad that you're here today.
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:38.000
If you've been following the podcast for some time now, you may have seen that there was a little gap in the posting.
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.200
And it's not because I'm going back to the super irregular postings.
00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:51.039
It's just because you know life happened, there was some holidays, and then family life really got crazy.
00:00:51.280 --> 00:01:06.319
So I decided to pick a stay back, refocus my energy the little time I had, put it at the right place, and that turned out to be my novel, my writing, my art, knowing that I would come back when the timing would be right.
00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:07.599
And this was it.
00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.640
Today I woke up and I was like, I want to do the podcast today.
00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:12.159
I really felt called to it.
00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:17.200
We'll see, but I think you will be able to see this on video on Apple Podcasts.
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:22.319
You can go and check right now, maybe it's already available by the time this episode is posted.
00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:40.879
But I've been working on making this available because this podcast admin video for quite a few episodes right now, and it was on Spotify, but the majority of my listenership is on Apple Podcasts, so the videos weren't really viewed, and I haven't figured out YouTube yet.
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.840
We'll sort this out in time, but at least Apple Podcasts would be available.
00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.680
So this is really fun to me.
00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:53.840
So if you'd like to see me instead of just hearing me, the option is or will be available soon.
00:01:54.079 --> 00:02:08.080
As of the reason why I've been away in the entire notion of going back to the art first, this is going to be the topic of my future newsletter, which I will send maybe this week, maybe next week, I don't know.
00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:16.479
But on my newsletter, I send exclusive content that I don't share on social media that I don't share here on this podcast.
00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.800
It's solely for the newsletter.
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:31.039
If you want to read what it's all about and where my reflection came from with taking a break from the podcast during the crazy times, you can go and subscribe to the newsletter right now.
00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:35.840
There's a link in the show notes, and you will be able to know what happened.
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:42.080
And also in the show notes, you can find the link to the Ko-Fi for the podcast.
00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:50.159
So if you enjoy the podcast and you want to support it, you want to help me to cover the cost of the podcast, which would be so appreciated.
00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:58.000
You can go on the Ko-Fi, you can either give a one-time donation or become a member or subscriber to the podcast.
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:05.280
There is few options available of perks and things that you can get in exchange of being a Ko-Fi member.
00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.439
Yeah, I think that's how they call them.
00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:09.360
So you can go there and check that out.
00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:11.439
The link again will be in the show notes.
00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:18.479
Before I go into the topic part of the episode, which will be it's not shitty, it's just unfinished.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:24.639
And I wanted to talk about this because this is discussion I've been having with my friends, my writer friends lately.
00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:41.039
It's something that comes back all the time, and it's also something I have to remind myself constantly, especially right now that I'm in the editing phase, and some things look really good and other things really don't look good, and it's something I have to keep reminding myself.
00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:56.400
And it had been in the lineup for the podcast for some time, but this morning I was like, no, this is the time to talk about this, because I really believe it's something that will be valuable to any writers at any stage, it's something we always need to remember.
00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:59.520
It's not shitty, it's just unfinished.
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:05.039
So this will be in the topic part of the episode, but first, here's my update.
00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:15.599
So I've been working on my novel, even though I've been posting less on social media and haven't been so much present here with the podcast or even in my newsletter.
00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.360
It's because I was focusing the little time I had on my novel.
00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:20.800
It's my priority.
00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:30.399
I decided to make a first draft pass, making the big changes that I know I need to do according to the story grid methodology in my scene.
00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:37.360
So I've written a first draft, my agent read it along with some trusted better readers who I'm so grateful to have.
00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:39.759
They are my friends and they are amazing.
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:51.199
And they read my novel, they gave me feedback, and now I'm going back, I'm analyzing every scene according to the story grid methodology, and then I'm applying the change.
00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:58.079
So at first, I wanted to just analyze and make notes about the change, and then do all the changes.
00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:11.360
So the story grid changes, the changes that my better reader suggested, and the line editing, I wanted to do it all in one go, all in one draft past, but it turned out to just be too much.
00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:17.920
I think I could already see that it would be a too big a draft pass to address everything in just one go.
00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:25.199
So I decided for this current draft pass, I'm applying the story grid in analyzing the story with the story grid.
00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:31.360
I'm making a plan and I'm acting on the plan, including also everything my better readers mentioned.
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:42.160
So I've been going back, I've edited the scenes that I hadn't made notes with the story grid, with the changes for my better readers, and I hit a big wall.
00:05:42.399 --> 00:06:17.360
It was my third scene, it was the fourth scene of the novel, because there was a prologue, so the first third of the real scenes, if you want, and it was the introduction to my second POV character, so it was a bit like the first scene in some ways, because the reader needs to attach to this POV as my first POV, so I really needed to hit this scene, and I just couldn't make it, and it took me three weeks to manage to make a plan for this scene and then apply the plan.
00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.439
I'm going to go deeper into this in the next episode, I think.
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:23.519
I'll see how I feel about it all then.
00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:32.160
But I'm going to talk about this concept of why it took me so long to finish editing this scene, and I've did it.
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.879
I'm really proud of how it looks right now, and I'm so grateful that I've gotten there.
00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.600
But it took me a long while and it was necessary, and that's what I want to talk about.
00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:51.040
How sometimes it can seem like it's just writing a scene, but there are so many things underneath that you need to figure out before you can write the scene, and that's basically what I did.
00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:52.560
So I will go deeper into that.
00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:00.800
But I finally finished that scene, so now I'm moving on to scene four, which I hope, let's hope, uh, will be less long.
00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:11.920
I I really think it will be, and I think it will move faster from then, but it's all about going slowly, steadily, but I'm making progress, and that's important, and I'm showing up to the novel too.
00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:18.079
And sometimes that's the only thing you can do, just one bite at a time, and you're going at it.
00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.839
And I did the homework I talked about in last episode.
00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:25.439
So if you haven't listened to the previous episode, go listen to it.
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:39.600
And the homework was to analyze the first POV chapter in Game of Thrones because that's done so well, and see the similarities and the pattern there to allow me to do the same thing with my story, and that proved invaluable.
00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:42.079
Like, I'm so grateful that I did this exercise.
00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:59.439
That's what allowed me to crack it because I saw that in each of those scenes there was the setting there to tell us something really precise about the character, and we couldn't have not known this element about the character if it wasn't for the setting and the setup of the scene.
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:12.560
And also there was something happening, so the turning was a break in status quo for this character, like it happened for every character that I analyzed in the first novel, A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire.
00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:19.279
I did that and it really, really helped, and I figured out that there was many things about the character I needed to know, etc.
00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.600
So I will go back another time.
00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:25.360
But I've done my own work and it proved really helpful.
00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:28.000
So I wanted to report back on this.
00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:44.879
Also, on the short story side, I've received four rejections for my short stories since the last time I recorded on two different stories, and I wrote those stories years ago, like more than five years ago.
00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:46.240
I still love them.
00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:47.679
I love them dearly.
00:08:47.840 --> 00:09:02.480
One of them got really close to being published, and the ontology didn't work out, the other one never got close, but I really love them a lot, so that's why I kept on submitting them, thinking okay, maybe this is just about finding the run magazine.
00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:15.840
But I I'm seeing that I'm getting tired of judging where I am right now in my career based on stories I wrote five years ago, and even one of those ones, it's one of the ones I wrote like 10 years ago.
00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:26.399
When I'm getting a rejection for those stories, it feels like it's a rejection of the writer that I am today, but it's not, it's a rejection from the writer I was five years ago, ten years ago.
00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.879
I felt like it was working a bit on my confidence, to be honest.
00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:46.960
I thought back to the stories, like not the overlook, because this was like the overlook story was, you know, uh, you can go back and listen to past episode also for this, but it was a really difficult market to get in, and it's with one shot that I had to get it published.
00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:54.960
So, of course, like I cannot base on this, but the story I wrote just before that, a flash fiction, I managed to get published just like that.
00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:16.320
So I'm like, okay, maybe this is not about anything about me, but it's just I need to let those stories go for now, and maybe when I get more of a name in the industry, I know that ontologies will come to you and ask you to contribute to their antologies, or I can just like maybe rework the story and resend it.
00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:26.799
I don't know, but it just felt like taking the time to submit it, even though it's not that big of a time, was just not like the best usage of my time, again, because it's limited.
00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:29.200
So that's what I decided to do for now.
00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:51.200
And even though I had an idea for a short story, and there was a call for an anthology that it would have fitted perfectly into, I really decided to keep my focus on the project that really excites me right now, and that I feel like both excites me and that I have fun working on, but also that they can move the needle in my career.
00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:53.759
I think both of those things are still important.
00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:59.600
And my agent is waiting on this version of the story that we can submit to editors.
00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:08.159
I know there are editors who really love my first novel who will be eager to read this one, so it really feels like my energy is better placed on this project.
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.200
So that's basically it for the update part of the podcast.
00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:17.360
Not much to say since I was just turning away at this scene.
00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.080
But now we're moving forward.
00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.919
And so now the topic of the episode, it's not shitty, it's just unfinished.
00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:39.039
If you've been in the writing community for some time, you must have heard the sentence shitty first draft.
00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.919
It was popularized by Anne Lamotte.
00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:43.679
I think it's in Bird by Bird.
00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.320
I haven't checked out, but I know it's her.
00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:54.960
She used this as a way of saying the first draft will not be perfect, and don't expect it to be.
00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:02.159
So expect it to be a shitty first draft, and she she said she writes shitty first draft, and that's how it was introduced.
00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.679
I love the concept for the fact that it lowers the pressure on the first draft.
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:21.360
Because we experience as a reader a book linearly as its published version, we can't have this weird impression that it was written exactly as that.
00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:28.799
Like the writer really sat down and typed word by word in this order, and then boom, it went to print.
00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:34.799
Again, if you've been anywhere near the publishing industry, you know that it's not how it works.
00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:41.120
And if you have attempted and managed to write a novel, you probably know that it's not how it works.
00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:50.080
Writing a novel is a process of you write and you go back and you edit and you add things and you remove things and you cut scenes and you add scenes.
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.720
It's the process of always we're working with the same words, and it's okay like that.
00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:56.559
That's how it's supposed to be.
00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:07.840
But somehow I think we all end up at the same place where we're plotter, pencer, anywhere the way that we can approach our first draft.
00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:16.720
We all still always end up wanting it to be better than it will actually be, and it will always disappoint us.
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:25.360
No matter how good our first draft are, they will always disappoint us because they are always farther away from the finish mark that we would love them to be.
00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.279
That's just a fact of life.
00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:42.720
So there is something about saying shitty first draft that really allows to lower this pressure of the first draft, doesn't need to be that close to the finishing line, that close to the version who will be published and consumed by readers.
00:13:43.120 --> 00:14:08.159
But there is underneath that notion, and again, going back to in episode 18, I thought about the thoughts hygiene and the importance of the words that you tell yourself about your project, the thoughts that you have, the conversation you have with other people, choosing your words is really important for how you will see the project.
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.360
You will see your heart, you will see your career and your journey.
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:21.679
Saying that your first draft is or even is supposed to be shitty, it includes this part of negativity to it.
00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:29.440
The notion of seeing it as just unfinished, I feel just puts it just in a different way.
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:34.000
It's about not judging your work as you go and saying, is it good or not?
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:35.440
Is it shitty or not?
00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:43.519
It's just unfinished and it isn't supposed to be judged on merits, on quality before it's finished.
00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.759
And I think the nuance is all there.
00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:53.840
And the moment where we get a bit discouraged when we're writing a first draft, or even when we're editing, I'm still there more often than I would like.
00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:07.039
You're writing, you're editing, because you've read a lot of novels, because you've read about the craft, you can't help yourself but to judge the work that you are creating and seeing its flaws.
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.960
It's inevitable flaws because it's not finished.
00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:21.919
And that frustrated me when I heard my friends say that their first draft or the novel they were working on was shitty or was not good or anything because I was like, you cannot say that right now.
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:22.879
It's not finished.
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.559
Of course it doesn't work, but it doesn't matter, we don't care.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:32.879
And it got me really frustrated when I heard people I love saying those words about the creation.
00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:36.480
I knew in my heart when they would finish would be good.
00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.720
So it was like, why are you judging it right now?
00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:39.759
It's not finished.
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.879
And that's where I came up with the metaphor of building a house.
00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.039
So my partner is a carpenter.
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:51.679
We've built, I say we, but it's like a we that it's clothed myself a lot.
00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.440
I was there like in my project management, but that's a lot.
00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:56.960
It was all my partner.
00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:01.360
He built two our first house in the house that we live in right now.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:02.559
He built it all.
00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:18.720
And because I was there and I saw the process, it got me thinking of how when it was just a hole in the ground, I wouldn't say to him, but why didn't you put any windows in?
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.240
Of course he will not put the windows in.
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.360
They're just digging the hole where the foundation will be.
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.919
So he doesn't care about the windows.
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:37.440
And if I were to come in, or if it was a little voice in his mind saying, But you don't have windows, this isn't really a house.
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:47.840
It would, it would first it would make no sense, but if it was like hit him misconfidence in the actual house of how it will look like, that would hurt.
00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:56.240
And I'm thinking, like, this is like big saying, okay, there is no windows when it's a hole in the ground, but so this is compared to the first draft.
00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:02.240
Like saying your sentence aren't pretty enough, flowing enough, you're using a lot of repetition.
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:10.079
Saying that at the first draft level is exactly like saying, but you don't have windows on a house that's just a hole in the ground.
00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:11.839
That's exactly the same thing.
00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.359
So that's why the notion of unfinished is so important.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.279
But it goes deeper than that.
00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:23.519
Because at the first draft level, we can give ourselves some slack with time, with experience.
00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:32.880
But when we get further on in the editing process, for example, where I am, I have visibly like three draft paths left in front of me, minimum, maybe four.
00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:44.799
So I have the story grid one I'm doing, I have the line editing one, I have the one with my friends better reader, who accepted to read every scene and give me feedback, including a friend who hasn't read it yet.
00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:50.000
So she will have her first approach to the novel will be this new version.
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:54.240
So I want to know how she feels about it when she hasn't read the previous version.
00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:00.400
And then I will edit according to their comment, and then I will send it to my agent who will also make comments.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:20.799
So I have four draft paths left in front of me before I can say it's finished, and even then, when it sells, it will, when it sells with the publisher, the publisher will also have his editor go in and give some suggestion, and then there will be a copy editor who will also come in and do it.
00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:53.359
There is so many still draft paths before this is the thing that people end up reading one day that I cannot have in my head that I see the flaws and let that make me think that what I'm writing is not good, but I don't know why, it always comes in, and it's the equivalent, me right now saying I really don't enjoy the way I'm showing emotion right now, like it's more told and showed, and I really want the reader to feel the emotion in the current draft past that I am.
00:18:53.519 --> 00:19:30.400
I know that I'm not achieving that, and being furiated at myself or worried or concerned at myself that right now this isn't accomplished in my draft, is exactly if when my partner has done what we call in Quebec the the rough, I don't know what it is in English, maybe it's rough too, but it's basically you just have the walls and the roof and the division inside and the floor inside, but inside the house and even outside, it's all just wood, it's just apparent wood, like there's nothing but the very rough wood everywhere.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:40.880
The house looks like a house, exactly like my novel right now looks like a novel, it has all the rooms it will have, and we can see what it will look like.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.319
This is the same place I am, basically, with my novel.
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:48.319
Maybe a bit farther along, but just let's go with this.
00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:57.759
If at that point I came inside to visit the house my partner was building, and I were to say, but the floors are ugly.
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.599
What why did you put those those floors in?
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:07.279
What he would say, rightfully so, is I'm not at this part of the process yet.
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:17.839
This is the floor we put in first, and it's on top of those floors that we will put the real floors that you will see all your life that I have right there, if you're looking on the video.
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.880
Um, and actually, there's even a reason why he doesn't put those right away.
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:26.160
It's because you want to put the paint on the wall first.
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:34.880
Because if there is any splashes of paint, and there is also some people who will come in for ventilation, for electricity, for the plumbing.
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:38.079
They need to walk inside the house a lot to do their work.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:42.319
So if it was like the finished floor from the beginning, it would get destroyed.
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:46.079
It would be there for no reason, and then you would have to redo it.
00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.759
This is the exact same reason why I'm not working on this right now.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:55.279
This is the exact reason why right now I don't need to worry about my sentence looking good.
00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:03.279
Because I'm working on something bigger that I need to figure out first before I do the next step of the line editing.
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:21.839
If I tried to put on the real flooring, the hard woods right now with my novel, working on my sentence all the way, I would screw them all up because I will need to add a paragraph, remove the paragraph, change something about this character or this bait or anything, had a turning point.
00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:26.000
So it doesn't make any sense for me to spend time doing this right now.
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.079
I need to do it at the right step.
00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:43.759
So of course I cannot right now judge the quality of my book because it doesn't have all of its components that I've actually actively worked on or at least analyzed, looked at, and say, okay, this works.
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:54.160
Until the moment where my partner had done every single thing in the house to make it a house and say this house is completed, I could not judge how it looked.
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:57.759
I could not say this is a beautiful house or not because it was just finished.
00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.119
I didn't have all the components.
00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759
So why?
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:12.880
Why do we as writers judge the quality of what we are producing before we have the whole vision, before we've gone through every single step and at least analyze it?
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.000
Sometimes we have natural talents in some ways.
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:20.880
Like I know, for example, usually I don't have to do that much work on my dialogue.
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.200
The dialogue just flow really easily to me.
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:31.759
But I will still have at some point in the draft pass, I will look at the dialogue and just make sure they work the best that they can.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.279
At least you need to have done that this for every step of the process.
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:44.960
It will be emotion, character development, the plot, the foreshadowing, the description.
00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:50.720
There is so many components inside a novel that makes a novel work.
00:22:50.960 --> 00:23:00.240
If you try to make them work at once, it's like trying to put the windows and the hard floor on a house that's just a hole in the ground.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:01.359
You will not make it.
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.880
There's a reason why they build house the way that they do.
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:15.519
It's because it's the most efficient process to finish in the last cost in the last time possible and have the most beautiful, strong house that you possibly can.
00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:19.279
It's the same thing with the novel, the exact same thing.
00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:32.559
But because they are words, we tend to forget that it's exactly the same thing and that it works exactly like a house, and we need to work on it layer by layer, looking at it one at a time.
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:44.880
Or sometimes when I say I will do one draft past for a line editing, and I know I'm going to include description in there, I know I'm going to include like emotions, make sure that they are shown and not told.
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:59.519
This is all going to be one draft past, but I will still in my mind, okay, see okay, this sentence needs more work on this thing, but I will not go about it and try to do everything at this at once, it would be too much.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:07.599
I will still take time and adjust because this is how you build a strong, beautiful, amazing novel.
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:14.559
It's layer by layer, one at a time, and it's also how you're going to, even though the goal is not to save your time.
00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:17.680
And I did a reel on that video on TikTok.
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:19.200
You can go check that out.
00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:24.160
How the goal isn't to preserve your time, and it's Sissy Lira and the shit about writing.
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:29.200
I don't know which episode I should have written down in which episode she said that.
00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:38.559
But she was talking, Sissy Lira is a literary agent, and she was talking with the writer about her process and how it goes.
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:44.640
And at some point, the author went and said, Oh, but this takes more time.
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:50.720
Like what she decided to do to finish her novel was something that took more time.
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:59.599
And Cece said, But the goal is not to preserve your time, the goal is this piece of art that you're creating, and that's what she managed to do.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:05.119
And she was like, This is time well spent if it creates a better work of art.
00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:14.799
I completely agree with that, but I don't agree with wasting time at places of the process where it doesn't help the process and it doesn't help the finished product.
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:20.720
When you're working on a novel, keep in mind at all times that it's unfinished.
00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:25.839
And if you see something that doesn't work, go and just write down a note for yourself.
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:35.599
It would be like if my partner, when he was looking around the hole in the ground, was saying, Oh, I need to put those windows in, I think they are really pretty.
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:45.119
It will go and then he had like this notes on his phone where he would put like his idea and inspiration for what he wanted to do in the entire house.
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.319
And he would write down, I want those windows in.
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:51.279
That was the only thing he could do because he was not there.
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.559
So do the same thing.
00:25:52.720 --> 00:26:03.680
When you see something that doesn't work, instead of telling yourself, Oh, my first draft is shitty, my book is shitty, I'm not good, this is not good, nothing works, nothing will ever work.
00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:08.079
Just stop yourself and say, Okay, it's it's unfinished, it's just unfinished.
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.400
And this thing, take a note for yourself.
00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:15.680
Okay, when I get to this part of the process, I will go in and I will work on this thing.
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:21.519
Take notes, and that's the way you will know you won't forget the ideas that you have to or how to improve.
00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:31.839
You want to capture those ideas, you want to improve your story, but just one thing at a time and not overwhelm yourself with wanting to fix everything in one go.
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:36.319
And again, that's what I said in the previous episode where I talked about this.
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:45.920
The words that you use are so important because it can seem like, okay, I just call my work shitty or it's not good or it sucks right now.
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:49.920
And you can think that those words don't have really an impact, but they do.
00:26:50.079 --> 00:27:03.759
This is the if you keep on repeating to yourself always that your book is not good, it's not good enough, it doesn't work, it's shitty, you keep on repeating that to yourself over and over again, you could get really discouraged, and that's when you start to write less.
00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:11.680
That's when you put it on the side, that's when you have the new shiny idea syndrome because you think, oh, this is a an idea flaw.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:14.240
When it's not an idea flaw, it's just not finished.
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:19.119
So you think, okay, if I have this other idea, then my house would be beautiful.
00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:21.359
But it doesn't, I'm mixing the middle.
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:32.480
Sorry, but it's like if my partner, when he does this rough, he was like, we cannot live in this house, like it's it's like just hard wood everywhere, it's ugly, like it doesn't work.
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:42.640
And oh, you would see like another piece of land like further away, and you would say, Okay, if we build it here, like the house would be better, and then it started building another house there.
00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:45.920
No, our house was perfectly okay, it was just not finished.
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.160
That's what you do when you keep on telling yourself that it's not good, it's not good, it's not good.
00:27:50.319 --> 00:28:01.279
But if you start saying to yourself in this moment where you doubt your story or you you doubt your capacity even to do it, you just say it's just unfinished, it's not not good.
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:05.279
I don't mean to judge its quality right now, it's just unfinished.
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:09.119
Let me take a note, let me make sure that I work on this thing.
00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:20.640
It changes the attitude you have toward your work, and that could be the thing that leads you to keep on working on it and to eventually finish it because this is the goal in the end.
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:25.839
The goal in the end is to have the finished house that you could put on the market and sell.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:38.240
So if you compare your house, your novel to a house, you would say the moment where I can go and pitch it to publisher is the moment you would say a house is ready to go on market and be sold.
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:45.119
So if there is no art floors or if there are no bad tub, you cannot go and sell it.
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:46.400
You need to work on it more.
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:50.160
The goal is to have this finished product.
00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:55.680
You know, I'm always talking about this podcast in the lens of you want to be traditionally published.
00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:05.119
So it needs to be this finished thing that you can then go and try to sell either to an agent to represent you or to an editor to publish it.
00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:08.079
This is the goal to finish the book.
00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:14.960
But it's only when you are you reach that stage on your own, it's okay, there will be other people who come in.
00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:18.000
But there is a part that's just on your own with yourself.
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:23.039
There is a point where you need to yourself let it go and say, okay, it's ready for other people to come in.
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:32.640
You need to wait until you've done every step of the process yourself before you judge its quality, before you say, Okay, is it good or is it not good?
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:41.759
Of course, along the way, you will see when it's that good and you will work on it, but only judge yourself and your work when you have a finished project.
00:29:42.000 --> 00:30:00.079
And of course, another thing that will help a lot with the mindset as you're working on a novel, something that it's so long to do, it's it takes usually years to go through this entire process, it's to see the good that you're doing along the way.
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:13.920
So notice the good sentence that you write, notice the scenes that are really banging, notice this like cliffhanger that you manage to do right, because along the way you will always do some things right, and there are other things that you need to work on.
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:27.279
But if you've put your focus more on the things that you do do right along the way, it will also be more encouraging and leave the global judgment of the thing that you're creating for the moment when you're done and it's finished.
00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:31.119
So I hope this little mindset shift helps you.
00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:36.480
This way of talking about your work, of thinking about your work as you're going through.
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:47.359
Um, if it can be helpful, I know I've done it for so many things, but you get to write it on a little post-it, put it somewhere close to where you're writing so that you see it.
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:51.359
It's not shitty, it doesn't suck, it's just unfinished.
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:53.759
To remind yourself and keep that in mind.
00:30:53.920 --> 00:31:00.480
And if you found this episode useful, don't hesitate to share it with a friend who think you could who could benefit from it.
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:05.759
We can also take a screenshot and share it on your social media to tell people that you're listening.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:08.640
Don't forget to tag me if you do that at Lefty O Bay.
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:12.480
I really, really love to see that you you are listening.
00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:14.079
You can also email me.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.359
The email is in the show notes if you want to say anything.
00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:21.759
I want this to be really a conversation with you all.
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:28.000
If you enjoyed the podcast, again, there is the co-fire when you can support the podcast, which I really appreciate.
00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:33.279
If you don't or you can't, you can always also subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:36.480
It's free, but it really helps the podcast to reach more people.
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:39.759
So if you enjoy it, it can be a really simple way to help.
00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:41.920
And I wish you a lovely week of writing.
00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:43.359
We'll see each other next week.
