To SHELVE OR COMPLETELY START OVER

That is the question of today's post. 

I've made mention of it before, but NaNoWriMo is usually not enjoyable for me. November is typically busy and shoving an entire rough draft into thirty days makes my anxiety prickle.  That being said, I managed to win last year. 

I was really proud of myself and at the time, I had plans on having at least a sequel. Recently, I got a spark of inspiration so I decided to reread it and see the possibilities...

Don't get me wrong, there is a good story in there somewhere, but it's so painfully obvious that I did not outline and that I rushed to write it in a month. There are under developed characters, side plots that go no where, and then a relationship between the good guy and bad guy that goes from enemies to lovers like I flipped a switch. 

So we go back to the title of my post. I know people "shelve" things all the time, but I still feel like I put a lot of time and effort into this and to see it just never go anywhere makes me sad. I cry when I think about my freelance project that got pulled and wish I asked for the rights for it and that was a joint effort, so something that is entirely my own seems like a crime to waste.

If I start over, it would a huge project. I would do my outlining ritual and comb through the current manuscript for anything worth saving. I think I will end up doing this, but as I said in a previous post, it's low on the priority list. I REALLY REALLY want to start working on My Apocalypse Heart Saga once Eminence is good enough to go out to betas and my editor.

So temporarily shelved? 

Yours in Writing,

Kay