The Letter P

After my paean to patience in my last blog, another P word is nudging its way into my consciousness. Patience is passive. It asks one to take some time. Count to ten. Move on with caution. Perseverance, however, is more demanding.

Facing pages of script which need to be revised, I can be seen quietly closing the Word Doc. and finding something else to do. I can hear the sigh that escapes from my lips as I approach, what seems to be, an impossible task. This is where my new P word comes in. Perseverance wants to dig me in the ribs, nudge me with its elbow, until I get on with writing.

I'm not liking the nagging, but perseverance is making me get the job done. I sit and get to work and after a while I'm grateful that I listened. That block of text can be made better. New ideas can be incorporated. The results are well worth the effort.

This is how I, finally, got to the end of the revisions to my novel, Anthony. It turned into a rewrite rather than an edit, but that was what it needed. Perseverance kept me on my laptop, kept me searching for the right words, and kept me going until it was both finished and happy with what I had done.

After heading off down a different road for a time, I am now back on course with the project I started a while ago. Eden's Tale is 28k words at the moment, so, still a lot to do. The ideas are coming thick and fast, but the P's are helping me get them in order and write them down.

All of this work makes me feel good about the efforts I'm making. So much so, that I think a reward is in order. This time the P will stand for pizza.