About a year ago, I started working on a new novel. The idea came to me in a rush sometime in early July 2025 and wouldn’t leave me alone, so I started writing. I finished that first draft in December, and I took about six months away from it to give it room to breathe. I’m glad I did. But now I’m beginning the revisions process, and friends … it’s one of the hardest projects I’ve worked on in a very long time.
I’ve lost count of how many novels I’ve written over the past 20 years. You haven’t read any of them, because most of them have never made it past the first draft stage. I’ve either never been ready or I simply haven’t followed through for one reason or another. But this is the first book I’ve written in years, and it’s different than all the others. I plan on seeing it through to the end, whether you get to read it eventually or not. But I’ve realized that I’ve forgotten how hard this part of the process is. It is a lot harder than many people realize.
I’m Not a Bad Writer, Am I?
Even the most experienced writers tend to start asking questions like these when they find themselves deep in the trenches of their own work. And it’s not usually because we actually believe the quality of our writing has suddenly plummeted. It’s usually because we’re our own worst critics. Sometimes this makes every other sentence we reread from our imperfect drafts feel like false evidence of mediocre prose.
The reality is, when you’re working on a book, there are bound to be passages that aren’t good. It’s going to happen when your main first-draft focus is “finish writing book.” It’s not supposed to be perfect. What’s essential at this point, but by no means any easier, is to ignore that voice inside your head saying you’re not a good writer. You’re reading an unpublished book. It’s not supposed to be good yet.
There’s a Reason Most First Drafts ‘Fail’
Many aspiring writers start writing drafts they’ll never finish. Even fewer finish them. Even fewer, still, circle back around to their finished first drafts and revise them into second and third drafts, and so on.
This is one of the hardest parts of wanting to be published. Writing a first draft in comparison is almost easy, because it doesn’t have to be good — it just has to get done. But now you’re past that part. Now it’s time to actually go back and figure out how to make it good. And most aspiring authors will never get past this stage because it requires us to look our own writing straight in the face, tear it apart, and work tirelessly until it’s all put back together again. Except this time better, and one step closer to being publishable.
I’ve Come This Far; There’s No Turning Back Now
This is what I keep telling myself as I sink deeper and deeper into this second draft. I’m doing the part many writers can’t. I may end up pouring even more time and energy into this version of the book than I did creating the original. But that’s what’s going to make it worth it in the end.
I have no desire to give up. I’m making the book better as I go, even if it means the book is almost unrecognizable by the time I’m done. The book can be better, and it will be. I’m proud of all the work I’ve put into this so far. But I’m not done yet. There’s still months of work to be done. And I will take it one day at a time until this part of my journey, at least for this book, is complete.
Meg Dowell Writes 