8:00 a.m. As The Writer hacks away at an early chapter that she’s already beaten up twice, reflect that this may be an abusive relationship. In the First Draft phase, she was always excited to see you. Well, almost always. Your relationship was shiny with discovery and unexpected plot twists. She said it was exciting to work on a dystopian sci-fi story. She said she’d always loved dystopian sci-fi and that Brave New World was one of her all time faves.
Now she keeps saying things like “I can’t believe I was insane enough to try this” and “why didn’t I stick with contemporary realism?”
8:03-8:55 a.m. It’s like this relationship is all about her and her agenda. She has no respect for history! For perfectly good characters and plot twists and chapters! Even individual sentences are under attack. There’s a reason a lot of Second Drafts refuse to cooperate.
8:56 – 9:12 a.m. While she looks at Vice Dos and Don’ts (so early in the morning, which tells you something) compose an S.O.S.
9:13 – 9:52 a.m. Lose S.O.S. and any chance of rescue when she pastes most of a chapter into your S.O.S. document. She’s on a rampage, deleting like mad. On the plus side, feel a bit more svelte. Pray it will all be over soon and that Third Draft will see the relationship improve.
