60 Weeks and Change

60 weeks and 3 days
27 chapters, 286 pages and 85,953 words

That's right I finished, finally. Finished the rough draft that is. I have a feeling the real work begins as I go back in determining where a comma should and shouldn't be, losing sleep over an adjective that just doesn't sit right, and scouring the pages for sentences ending in a prepositional phrase. I'm finding myself wishing I would have paid a bit more attention in the multitude of grammar classes I took in college.

I also think I've settled on a title. I'm not sure yet, I know that if I were to get published it would likely change but it feels good to me to have named it. Makes it more real, more like the firstborn it truly is to me.

I also have to get over the fear of letting someone else, other than my other half and bestie Sarah, read it. Yeah I know, I get the irony. But I am self-conscious of people I know reading my words. I don't give a damn about a million strangers. But I need the feedback, the input.

The biggest hurdle I face is forcing myself to do the boring work and not skip ahead and start on the next novel. My notebook is full of pages where I had steered off course and started writing ideas for more. My imagination has become an addict and I can't stop hunting for my next fix.

Don't ask

You don't even want to know. You'll probably give up and never bother to follow my progress again. You likely wonder how I graduated college or held a job if I can't even meet a self-imposed deadline.

I have good reason. The best laid plans always fail and all that garbage. But my life is literally turned upside down right now as I'm surrounded by moving boxes and a torrential downpour of rain and responsibilities.

So I make no promises. I will post when I am done. Stay tuned.

Have you discovered my secret?

You know the one that if I'm upset about something I disappear. I don't talk it out I go mute.

So I didn't meet the self-imposed goal. And that just chaps my ass. I do really good under pressure. I do better under pressure than I would just moseying along taking my time. But it didn't happen and I'm pissed so I disappeared.

I am writing again, finally. But I've had some big dragons to slay. Like the girl with an ear infection that just won't go away. And the boy who thinks eighteen months is the new terrible twos. Why bother to learn to talk when screaming ALL DAY LONG is infinitely more enjoyable? I'm seriously considering having my ipod earphones surgically implanted in my head.

So there's a new deadline in place. You're probably scratching your head wondering why since the last one was so successful and all. But again, I do well under pressure. It's not quite as tidy as the last deadline. One year rolled off the tongue so much better than one year and one month. But if it all goes according to plan I'll be finished with the draft just in time to hop a plane ALONE for a weekend in California. Just me, a hard copy of the novel, and a new red pen.

I can almost see the ink stains on my fingers. Sigh.

All my friends were doing it....

Starting blogs that is. It's a new year, a new decade. Sounds like the perfect time for a new hobby.

Technically I told myself I wasn't allowed to blog yet. You see I wrote most of the a fore mentioned untitled and unpublished novel in 2009. I have roughly three chapters left to finish the first draft and eight days to do it. So I'm not supposed to blog until I'm done. I'm not supposed to do anything until I'm done; short of feeding and clothing my small children.

I will finish by January 12th. Why? Because that's the day I started writing last year. And I'm fairly neurotic and OCD so I like to wrap things up neatly. It went so fast in the beginning. I was writing at least ten to fifteen pages a day. Then life and a whole mess of crap got in the way.

So three chapters in eight days. That way I can get onto the real fun, ie, editing, writing query letters, and submitting to literary agents. Oh, and blogging, about it all. I think I'm actually hoping for a super scathing rejection letter just so I can share it here.

But I'd settle for a glowing one begging to represent my book. Ha.