I've Got it!

I had posted earlier today about a manuscript I had written many years ago and then rewrote it and it became too large for anyone to want, and so I down-sized it. Still no takers. I gave up. Shelved it for years. Moved on.

I took it out today--its in mini piles all over my other desk, two chairs another table and on the floor. It's basically in a shambles. Pages are reaarranged, missing, and so on. I couldn't put it together even if I had a month of days to string together to just do it. It rambles, has too many story threads, too many characters.

However, as I was reading some of the chapters, here and there, and realized what I had was enough story ideas for not one book, but many. In fact I may have (well, I sure do have) a new series with a male protag. And since it's so brand new I'm not saying too much about it.

So, new life for an old manuscript. Sometimes when you look at something ascew it becomes something new, fresh, original. Rehashing an old manuscript may be like rehasing an old idea that didn't work in the first place. Sure, you loved it when you wrote it and believe it should have been published, dog gone it. But it wasn't good enough. I don't think it ever could be, now. The story ideas are just old hat.

But as I have learned to believe, because the old Indian thought is, if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't. Possibly something else is in the wings. By waiting it out and trying to look at this thing in some new way, I now know what I can do with it.

The old manuscript spoke to me today. I found chapters that could be turned into short stories, and in fact wrote a few out into new documents, which I may share with you at Lorelei's Muse or elsewhere this coming fall.

Have a good weekend!