Mile Markers

I kind of have a thing for numbers. That's not to say I'm a mathematician, not in any sense of the word. I could balance my checking account four times and come up with four different numbers and the other day it took me way too long to add 43 and 88 in my head.

But I like numbers' significance. And when a nice round number marks that significance. For example, last week I reached the halfway point of revising my novel. The chapter ended and I glanced down at the page and, miraculously given my skills, did the math quickly in my head. Fifty percent complete exactly.

One week later, I sign into the blog to update my progress. I have a written copy of the text beside me (so much easier to edit from paper than the screen, I guess I'm old school like that). Wouldn't you know, but I discovered another mile maker. One hundred pages until I'm done. It's so close I can almost feel the calluses on my finger pads.

The point of mile markers according to Wikipedia, "are to provide reference points along the road. This can be used to reassure travelers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance traveled or the remaining distance to a destination."

To someone else 100 pages left may just be the remaining distance to a destination. That may even be how I saw it before I started writing this. But the value to me now is not just how much is left but rather the realization of how much has come before. My focus has been the end result, the completion. Today, I reflect on the miles that have brought me to this point, the finish line almost visible in the distance.

And I laugh. Because I know once I cross that finish line, I'll turn around. The mile marker will read zero and the countdown will begin again. But I won't discount the miles I have traveled. Those markers are not just measuring how far I've come or how far I have to go. They are there to remind me I am on the right path.

Once Upon A Time...

I thought I'd get real serious about this networking thing. So I started a blog, and a twitter. I blinked and more than two years flashed by. While I abandoned the blog (and the tweeting), I did not stop writing. The untitled, unpolished, and unpublished book that inspired all this, is now only two of the three. I bestowed a title upon it but the polish has taken more elbow grease than I thought.

Did you know that after you finish the first creative thing you've written since college you'll instantly fall in love with it? And did you know that the second you hunker down and start editing it you'll fall just as quickly out of love? After going a few rounds and feeling more and more discouraged, I decided to set it aside. I abandoned my prior promise to not start a new writing project before the last one was signed, sealed, and delivered. It was then I discovered something.

Writing was making me a better writer. I know, who would have thought? So I've spent the last two plus years writing the pads of my fingers off and it has served me well. The first book is going through a major rehab since one day I was gobsmacked by the thought that the story was meant to be told in third person. I wrote it in first. I think you can imagine the effort this will take. I am four chapters away from finishing a story that will never see flourescent bookstore lighting since it was merely done as exercise. Lastly, I am one chapter into something I am excited to write, and my notebook is still full of new ideas.

Time to stop dreaming and start doing.

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.