Getting Back To Writing

My creative writing has been quite sporadic as of late. Several stories in the works and no progress. That's not very good at all. So I asked myself, "Why no progress?" Was it because of time? Was it because of lack of interest in the story? Was it fear? Some of the above or all of the above?

I looked at my schedule. Time didn't seem to be a factor. Was I losing interest in what I had started? No, I really liked the stories I had written. The characters I've created are interesting, charming, inquisitive and grow throughout the story. So it's got to be fear.

The stories are done, now it's time for the hard part. The that will make or break my story. the part that will determine if I'm a real writer or not, whether I can become a good, published writer.

Editing
Someone said, "Writing is easy, editing is hard." Editing, where you go through your story (not just for the basic punctuation and spelling) but does it make sense? Does every word mean something? do you have too many of the same word on a page, in a paragraph, a sentence? Every word, sentence, paragraph, page, chapter has to count. Each chapter should be its own mini story, that makes up the big story.

Editing is where it counts. Where you separate the wheat from the chafe, the women from the chicks- where warriors, goddesses and Amazons are made. Editing makes you cry. It makes your brain hurt, it makes you want to hurt someone, especially if they don't understand what you're going through. Editing is painful and lonely. You can lose weight doing it. Anyone who says that writing is easy hasn't edited.

Questions are always asked. How can I make this better? Am I making this better? When read aloud, does it flow? Or do I trip up the lips and tongue? What am I trying to say and is it coming through?

Yes editing. That is the fear. The real challenge, writing, anyone can write. Editing, that's the true test because not everyone can self edit to the point that their work is readable and ready for publication. I shall wrestle with that fear. I've just to many stories to tell.