What to do when you hate your WIP

What should you do when your current 'Work In Progress' just isn't working out any more? Normally, I would say, "Move on!" However, like many writers out there, I have signed up for another year of 'NaNoWriMo' fun. (For those who don't know, NaNo stands for National Novel Writing Month. People around the globe challenge themselves to write a 50,000 word novel in just thirty days ...)

Unfortunately, after reaching almost 9,000 words after only four days, I ended my writing session on Friday night with my word count UP, but my enthusiasm LOW. My idea, which I was totally excited about just days earlier, had taken a dive. In short, I was bored with my own writing. It was so obviously telling without enough showing, that even I couldn't imagine wanting to slog through reading it!

I also couldn't imagine writing another 40,000 words. It was just boring, boring, BORING! Starting over seemed equally discouraging, and I'm just too stubborn to quit. What was I going to do? Go to bed and forget about it, that's what!

Fortunately, a good night's sleep often softens life's most perplexing problems - even a WIP gone wrong. In the light of a new day, a reclamation plan began to take shape. I realized that most of my problem stemmed from trying to fit in too much back story. In this case, most of this information is essential to understanding the main character's motivation, but all the droning on about his early years was getting in the way of the real story I wanted to tell.

Instead, I've decided to sandwich each climactic event from his developmental years between a current conflict. So far it's working out beautifully, and I'm back to being excited again. With just a half hour of 'rearranging', my muse and I are now reacquainted. All I can say is, thank goodness for 'cut and paste'!

I will continue to keep you posted on my progress. (FYI I'm at 14,000 words - hooray! ) Now it's back to that WIP ...