My novel writing journey so far

Hello again,

Since I was a teenager, I've loved storytelling. Over the course of several years, I built a massive post-apocalyptic world centered around the book I hoped to write. Though I got partway through a rough draft, my inexperience weighed down on me until I gave it up. The main flaw I noticed was that the narrative felt like a sequence of events, rather than an individual's journey. I still hope to revisit this project one day, perhaps with a noir-esque atmosphere.

Currently, I am working on a completely separate story, with the intent of marrying my love of fantasy with a desire for a more technical magic system. I am currently about 10% into my second draft, and having received ample criticisms from my beta readers, I've revised much of my original draft. My plot is more recognizable and characters are more fleshed out. Many scenes which were lacking in the original draft are now either added or in the works.

My woes with writing often have to do with overthinking and over-editing early drafts. With this one, I've taken a steady approach, avoiding even simple edits for the sake of maintaining focus. This worked wonderfully for my rough draft, as I had never completed a novel draft until that point. However, in the second draft, I am struggling for the same reasons; since I'm rewriting almost everything, I'm feeling personal pressure to not only get words on the paper, but to also make this a cleaner draft than the last one.

I am thankful, of course, to my beta readers, as they continue to provide objective feedback while motivating me to trudge through the toughest parts of the draft. Besides their support, my final motivational tool is a strong "want"; I keep a picture of a Tesla Model 3 on my desk now, and have told myself the car can be mine if I can get this thing published.