Beginning a novel is always hard. It feels like going nowhere. I always have to write at least 100 pages that go into the trashcan before it finally begins to work. It’s discouraging, but necessary to write those pages. I try to consider them pages -100 to zero of the novel.
Barbara Kingsolver (via wordpainting)
And of course there’s the old chestnut that says that when writing a short story, you should always cut the first and last paragraphs once you’ve finished. I don’t really buy into it, but then I have a terrible habit of not being able to leave something until I know it’s right.
