Rewrite? Not Me!

Since I am the first newbie to post, I thought I would share a personal story (writing related) and give you a glimpse of the road I have been on, and also share some valuable lessons I learned along the way!

When you get that sudden knock-you-to-your-knees inspiration for a plot or character, it can keep you up into the wee hours, typing away. I remember the first moment of inspiration that led me down the road to writing- I was at my husband's grandmother's apartment about five years ago. She had recently moved from her home of many years, to be closer to her son. Her body was failing her in every way, but she often said she still felt like a young woman inside. Her struggles and life journey gave my heart such a tug, that one night, in her dimly lit apartment kitchen, I began to write. It started as a short story, and then I added to it. Soon I had a novel length manuscript.
It was a masterpiece! Or so I thought. I was so focused on getting my story out there, that I refused any cyber-advice I found when I googled, “publishing”. Some points I specifically ignored were:

• First book? Tuck it away and visit it in a year or two.
• Get in a critique group
• Go to a writing conference
• Rewrite!

Why would I do these things? I had poured my heart and soul into this piece and God had shown me the way! So, having patted myself on the back until I was sore, I began to skip all the steps needed to creating a worthy final product, and took the giant leap towards publishing.
I got a nibble from a co-publisher, but the price tag that went along with it was my first reality check. So I sat on it for a while. I continued writing, having a second story brewing in my head, but just couldn't resist trying to push my first manuscript forward. After several rejections from agents and editors (yes, I shamefully admit I queried with absolutely no exposure to what the industry was all about!), an editor referred me to a manuscript review service. I took the plunge and forked over the lesser amount on their price tag, and got my manuscript professionally reviewed.
At first, I saw all the wonderful things they said, and then considered the negative. But when their final advice was to, dare I say the word, ... REWRITE... I began to sit back and re-evaluate my masterpiece.
After a poor attempt to rewrite, and another pricey offer to co-publish, I received my comments from the ACFW Genesis Contest.
This was the final blow- in an absolutely wonderful and humbling way!
The judges gave me such specific suggestions and opened my dreamy eyes to what a rewrite really meant!
The inspiration I first felt at the beginning, welled up inside after the reviews, but this time it was from the challenge to write better. I was a little wiser, a little more harnessed for quality. I chose to only keep the characters from my first novel, and start from scratch. I couldn't even bring myself to use pieces from that first text because I cringed when I read it! Through the long process of pursuit, criticism, and writing as often as I could, I discovered many things that proved to me, the process to successfully write an exceptional story wasn't going to happen overnight.
Some things I finally took to my writing heart was:
what it means to write with a literary bent, but not flush your work with adjectives
AND...what “showing” versus “telling” was, and how my first manuscript was just one long “tale being told!”.
I am proud to say that I will never again let someone read my first manuscript...ever. And I am thankful that God gave me a big dose of humility over the five years I clung to my first endeavor.

I promptly got into a critique group, which led to my amazing experience at the ACFW conference. I know the path ahead is long, but I feel like I am open to growth and ready for the maturity that comes with every word written...and rewritten. Sometimes it hurts to have a crit partner rip to shreds the very sentence you were so thrilled with when it was first written. And sometimes, you just ignore suggestions and take them with a grain of salt. But to have the opportunity to learn line by line, scene by scene, only equips you to elevate your story to the next level, or create another story to be written and shared!

I am so glad I never turned my back completely on the criticism, because it would have stunted my growth and I would found little encouragement to continue with such a passionate craft as this!