Patty Mayeux Blog

Creatives lay their souls bare when they usher an object of beauty from their private world into a public one. We are called to birth (yes, it is that long and difficult) a one-off thing and then share it with an audience greater than one. Patience is key. Sending our work to flight too soon spells disaster for the proverbial baby bird perilously dropping into public art. 

While rewriting novel number one (it really will be better when I am finally done), I’ve lost touch with the tone, voice and humor of its soul. It’s back to the yukky first draft all over again. Like a green-behind-the-ears novice, I’ve shared first pages too soon. The cutting feedback, while true, sends me to zero in my writing belief. Rather than quit altogether, I choose to pivot away from an end-goal focus and back to the joy of the daily process. Novel number one has been put aside until I am ready to incorporate the valid and valuable critique. It is very much alive and breathing, just not down my neck. Until then, I’ll return to the joy of building the quirky world of my damaged characters of novel number two. Nothing is lost. We only need to pivot.