Friday, March 18, 2011

In the Middle of the Chaos . . .

I finished a 330 page draft.

Oh. Oh. Oh.

I am so excited.

This week has been nuts, and we are entirely over-committed (which includes tiling the kitchen and celebrating the ever-adorable Plantboy's birthday) but I just have to tell someone.

I am going to spend the next month doing my own edit. There are at least 50 pages that are very nearly a free write--unless you count all the writing I do in my head when I don't have time to sit. Anyway, I am going to do a comprehensive edit on my own.

Then a peer review (looking for takers).

Then I have a contact who can hook me up to get some actual feedback from an actual editor at an actual publishing company.

Actually, I'm feeling pretty good today.

My stories nearly always come to me first as dialogued scene between two characters. I flesh out ideas from there, but each project I've finished will come to me in bits and flashes, again usually with dialogue. I will write sections all over the place and then create bridges to join them all up. I finished my last bridge last night. These connections are the hardest for me and where my stories bog down; because they are the rising action bits in between the best stuff, they are also the hardest to get motivated to finish.

I can hardly begin to express how excited I am for this project. The idea came to me in the Fall of 2009, and I've pretty much abandoned all other projects (at least on paper) since. Fifteen months is actually a really good record for me. I have a fantasy novel that is one or two chapters shy of a completion (clocking in at around 400 pages) that I started in the year 2000. I keep wanting to revisit it, but I can't help shaking the feeling that it is actually part of a trilogy. The MIDDLE part of a trilogy. Who do I think I am, George Lucas?

Did I mention how excited I am for this project?

Did I mention how much the love and support you folks give me in this environment has helped to shape me as a writer the last few years? No? Well, if publishing is ever in the cards for me, at least one of my books (though not the first) is going to be dedicated to the Blogger community at Nomad. Your empathy and belief in my ability and almost daily source of encouragement has been invaluable. Thanks for sharing your journey with me.

8 comments:

Sunnie said...

you have me so curious as to what your story is about! maybe you don't want to share, but i'm sure it is great. you have a natural ability for writing. i hope you get published!

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Sunnie! I didn't even know you were still reading. Somehow I "lost" you when your blog went private and I couldn't find you on Facebook. PLEASE send me your email or an invitation to your blog.

t. said...

WoooHooo! So excited for you! That's great. You are amazing.

Kimberly Bluestocking said...

I'm thrilled for you!

And like Sunnie, I'm very curious to know what the book is about, if you're willing to share. No pressure. :)

Janssen said...

This is fantastic! Can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Anonymous said...

So proud of you! What an amazing accomplishment.
Marci

emandtrev said...

Awesome!!

Brooke said...

That is so awesome. Go, Nan, go!