Recently I took a break from a manuscript. I have a first draft. Hooray! But it needs so much work and time to make it better. Three weeks I let it sit, all printed off and stacked up. That's a good feeling, looking at a story I wrote. There's something different about holding it versus seeing it on a computer screen.
Then I read it through again, waiting for that "Oh, it's not as bad as I thought" moment. That moment never came.
Now the hard work starts. Looking through scene-by-scene, trying to tease out what it was I meant for this story to be from the tangle. Wish me luck! I'm going to need it.
I've been thinking so much about what I want this story to mean, what I set out to say. So far I haven't figured it out. I'm just sort of wandering, hoping I stumble on something that snags and reveals what's underneath the scenes I've plotted and written. All I know is there's something missing. But I think it's under there somewhere. Now, I just have to find it.