Elastigirl from Doom PatrolI’m one of those people who needs to be creative 24/7. If I’m not writing, I’m sewing, making costumes, or even making new clothes for myself. I always need to be making something, whether it’s food, books, short stories, props or apparel. But I still struggle with one major thing: the middle of creative projects.

I find this is something that doesn’t just happen with my writing (although the middle parts of stories are so difficult), but also when I’m sewing and making costumes. There comes a point where I’m just fed up with the whole project and I feel like it’s such a waste and I just want to get to the end and see what the final thing looks like. It’s hard dealing with the middles, because it often feels like you’re just floundering in the middle of the sea and there’s no land in sight.

Fortunately, the only way to get through the middles is to keep swimming. You have to plow through because the only way to get to the end, that wonderful point where the thing you’re working on is finished, is by working your way through the middle.

So what am I getting to here? I have successfully traversed the middle of the novel I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year tentatively titled Goodbye, Fare Thee Well. And there is a light at the end of the tunnel as I reach the climax of the story and I see exactly where my protagonist is going and how she will get there. This is the first draft, the rough draft (and it’s called “rough” for a reason), but I’m almost to the point where I can call this draft done and take a little break from it before I start diving back in for the rewrite.

This is my pep talk to other writers and creatives, as well as myself. You can get through those horrible middles. Once the end comes into view, it’s the most wonderful feeling ever.

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