Recently, I received some feedback from beta readers after sending them what seemed like the millionth version of my latest WIP.

Already up to draft 9, I was hoping this was the one where I’d ironed out the problems raised in the previous round of feedback.

I had not.

The issues were still there, and I’d made them worse. That’s not fun feedback to get when you were genuinely happy with the draft you’d sent off.

Not only did I feel bad for wasting my beta readers’ time, but I honestly wasn’t sure how to fix the mess I’d made.

My first instinct was to give up. I’d already been having a crappy few months, and this was another disappointment in a long line of disappointments.

I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to go back to the drawing board and carry out yet anotherrewrite