I keep thinking about my…

I keep thinking about my dinner with Jo Walton yesterday. We talked a little about writing, and about how some of the writer-people we know and love don't always bring their best work to the table. It's hard -- there are deadlines, and a variety of financial and other pressures, and it's so tempting to just write something that is good enough. But there's a difference between the story that is good enough to be published, and the story that is RIGHT. That has achieved the fullness of what it's supposed to be.

As I write this new book, I keep wanting to set myself deadlines -- a full draft by the end of the summer. Okay, that didn't happen. A full draft by Christmas. And it's fine to set the deadlines, I think, and to try to make them, because that keeps you motivated, keeps you going. But I know that I, in particular, have a terrible tendency to rush. And that my very best work, like _Bodies in Motion_, was created when I gave the writing the space and time and thought it needed. So this is mostly a reminder to myself. Set the deadlines, but don't take them too seriously. I'm not under contract yet -- right now, I have the luxury of time. That can be a gift to my book.

When I start to forget, I think I'm going to have Jo's voice in the back of my head, scolding me, keeping me honest. :-)