I’m in Vermont for Thanksgiving (not with my family, but with a family of a school friend). I’m still on target with my writing challenge. Over 37000 words so far in the month of November. If I can keep up the pace, I might exceed the goal of 50,000 words. I do admit that I’m feeling concerned about the quality of the writing and the direction of the plot of my novel. I felt much more optimistic a week ago.

But this concern suggests an important topic: disgust.

I can’t speak for every single novelist, but I can speak from my own experience, and from the experience of many of the novelists I’ve met in my years as an MFA student. And it seems that almost every novelist, usually deep in the first draft, will develop doubts about their characters, about the plot line, and about the whole project. They become disgusted with their projects, and wonder if it’s really worth continuing through to the end of the first draft.

(I’m in the doubt phase, fast approaching disgust.)

I suspect that the novelist must learn how to keep writing even after she has become disgusted with her characters and unconvinced by their actions. She knows that the climax of the book is contrived, she worries that the ending with the whole family together at Thanksgiving dinner will be cheesy. It will be cheesy. She must write it anyway.

Certainly, there’s a right time to abandon a project. But if we abandon every project that disgusts us, we’ll never stick with anything long enough to make it work.