Writing woes

So, I finished rereading my novel, and all I can say is "Yeesh." Okay, well, maybe not so much yeesh, but gar. There's a lot of work to do on it. The entire second half needs to be reworked majorly. See, when I originally conceived of this idea back in the early 90's I think, it was really only a short story and it was supposed to end at what turns out to really be the halfway point of the novel version. I didn't extend it simply to make it longer, but because I thought it would work, that there was more story to tell. And to some degree, it does. Except that because I think this is actually a horror novel, I need to flush that out some. A lot. And okay, I can give myself some credit for it being rushed due to the circumstances under which it was written. So, I can do this. There's just a lot I need to add to really up the creepy factor before I get to the big, ugly, horrific climax. Chryste had commented that one aspect was "too easy." She's right, but looking back, the whole build-up is too easy. It's too clean. There needs to be a little more darkness scattered throughout the perfection of the little world my main character has found herself in.

Okay. I can do this. I'm just far to critical of myself. And I don't process criticism easily. I just need to kick myself in the ass and remind myself that it's okay that I didn't get it perfect on the first try and that's okay, that's normal.

Meanwhile, I'm tossing a possible theme around for if I decide to do this again this November. And I'm beginning to suspect that maybe I am meant to be a horror novelist, and not the romance writer I thought I was. I suppose this makes some sense considering I grew up on Stephen King, but it's still a wee bit surprising to find myself drifting that direction.