Process: When I Must Pretend

I'm at a fairly recognizable place in my manuscript.  I've been here before. It's the place where I'm suddenly unsure about the direction this manuscript is heading. It doesn't quite match up with what I'd planned, and I only know two things: it will either be better or it will be worse.

But in order to find out, I have to write it. I have to finish this first draft.

And here's where the pretending comes in. I need, right now, to pretend I'm a writer who knows what she's doing. I need to plow ahead with all the confidence of a Stephen King or a John Sandford or a Karin Slaughter or a J.K. Rowling.

Right now it's important not to let missing research pieces hold me up. Write the story, then fill in the holes and make the changes later. Trust the process.

Do you have stumbling places with your work? Places where you have to fake it until you make it?



It's all better with friends.