Write! Rewrite:( Abandon! Start Anew!

This is the process that my writing has been going through lately. I start working on something that I feel strongly about. I'm inspired, exciting and hopeful. Then after I write a couple of pages, I print it out and read it aloud. I have no idea why but that is the make or break point for my writing. If I think what I'm reading doesn't sound good, I get frustrated, stuff it somewhere in a pile of papers, close the window on my computer and abandon it. I get mad at myself for two reasons: one, for writing something I think sucks and two, for not finishing.

When I explained my predicament to a close friend of mine, she pointed out how I put too much pressure on myself and how I shouldn't think of the outcome as necessarily a bad thing but to acknowledge the fact that I've been inspired and have 5-6 novels that I've at least started.

This really opened my eyes and made me realize that sometimes beauty of art isn't necessarily the finished product--it is the process by which an artist goes through in order to create one's work or simply, an idea. She also said this in not so many words.

The promising thing is that right now I have a novel that I have been sticking with. I've read it back to myself a couple of times and haven't decided it sucks...yet!

Secretly, in the back of my head, I think of my brother when I'm writing my stories because he has always encouraged me to write.