the one where i wrote an entire manuscript knowing it was wrong

Here’s why pushing through a doomed manuscript still felt like the smartest move I could make.

As soon as I finished the first draft of my latest manuscript, I knew I’d have to rewrite the entire thing.

Something wasn’t clicking. I liked the characters. I liked the plot. I liked the arc. But it all felt…off. Too distant from what I was trying to say.

Eventually, it hit me: the main character’s corruption arc would be better told from his younger years. That meant shifting the story into a young adult lens and rewriting it in first person—not because it’s YA, but because I needed to be closer to his thoughts, his decisions.

So, why did I push through all 70,000 words even when I knew it wasn’t working?

Because I’m a trained journalist, and I finish on deadline—even self-imposed ones. Also, I knew having a full draft, even the “wrong” one, would give me more freedom in the rewrite. There’s structure now. I know where the bodies are buried. I can go in with a scalpel instead of fumbling in the dark.

Yes, I loathe rewriting. And yes, I will complain about it the entire time. But, as author Matt Bell writes in Refuse to Be Done, it’ll probably take three drafts at minimum anyway. Finishing this one just gets me to the good part: making it work.

So if you’re stuck, just keep going, even if you hate it. Even if it feels wrong. You can’t revise a blank page.

And sometimes, the only way out is through.