So I cranked out 15,781 words on my young adult fantasy Quiver this weekend (I’m now up to 33,000 and change). Keep in mind that these aren’t good words or final words, just words that are making up my rough draft. There is little artistry to them at this point. It’s more like a really, really detailed outline right now than anything else.

I’ve never written a YA before, and I’m a little unsure about things — the voice, the violence level, if the plot is too hokey. I got about 25,000 words into Quiver and thought it was utter crap — so I started all over again, weaving in some scenes from the old version. And yes, I’m still thinking that the new version is crap, although perhaps not quite as smelly as what I wrote before. 

Everything was going fine on the new version … until Wheezley told me that he liked the old version better. Argh! And then, of course, I started second-guessing myself. Was the first version better? Is the new version the really craptastic one? What should I doooo?

In case you haven’t guessed by now, us writers are a crazy, paranoid, neurotic lot. Seriously. We should all be wearing straightjackets. 😈

But I’ve decided to keep going on the new version and finish the rough draft. It’s always easier to fix things if you have something to work with — no matter how craptastic the words may be. So I’ll be slogging through the rest of the rough draft over the next few weeks and probably tearing my hair out in the process …

What about you guys? What are you working on, writing-related or otherwise?

That you don’t get that $10,000 advance in one lump sum? This ain’t the lottery. You don’t get to select the payout you prefer. You’ll be getting that $10,000 over the course of a year — or maybe longer, depending on when your book is finally published.

You get a little bit of money when you sign the contract, a little more when you turn in the book, a little more when you turn in the revisions … you get the idea.

And, of course, just because you sell one book is no guarantee that you’ll sell another. None at all. Especially with publishers cutting staff and authors left and right these days.

So if you are looking to get rich quick, I say start drilling for oil in Texas. Because you probably have a better chance of making it big doing that than writing books for a living.

But if you love writing and love telling stories, then sit down in front of your computer and write. Because there is one thing in all this that’s priceless — seeing your name in print. It really does make it all worthwhile.