Full Transcript for Your work in progress isn’t shitty; it’s just unfinished

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.