I finished my book! But I so didn't. So what's up now?
This last haul to complete has been crazy. When I last wrote a blog, I was at the 50% mark, and it was the end of March. April and May were crazy--I had some really good days, but we also had COVID, pneumonia, and a million other sicknesses those months.
So in June, I took drastic measures. LOL. I used the Freedom app and completely cut-off social media. Dunhhh dunhhh dunnnnnhhhhhh....
But seriously, it helped me to be super-productive and make big gains. Then, school ended, and summer camp chaos ensued. That threw a big wrench in my productivity in July. But for me, I knew I was so close I could taste it. I just wanted to get it done, and my birthday on August 7 was around the corner. I was at the beach in my happy place of Kiawah Island, SC, with only 1 kid (one was at a sleepaway camp), with a nanny, and my husband was in Scotland. So I could devote most of that week to writing.
I've literally never written like that before. It was non-stop. It was back-breaking. My body hurt. But I crossed the finish line after midnight, so technically on August 6th, the day before my 41st birthday. I typed the word every writer covets: THE END.
And thus I celebrated, all by myself, and made an Aperol spritz.
And the next day we went pluff mud kayaking and saw dolphins and a rainbow. It was the perfect bridge between finishing my novel and my birthday. Then it became a double rainbow, and our naturalist guide Luke joked that it meant that I had to write a second book. Which made me laugh because I do. My book is the first in a trilogy!
So all great and dandy. You finished the book. You had a great birthday; now what? You may be thinking.
The novel is "resting". Like a big hunk of meat. I'm letting it sit--so I'm not so close to it when I go back through and make my first pass at editing it before I put it in front of some other eyes.
As I may have mentioned previously--I must have--I wrote this book once before, but I took too much feedback, I frankensteined it and lost my voice. So this time around I need to be choosier about whose feedback I solicit and, even from that, what I choose to listen to. Before I make those moves, I'm going to give it a solid pass myself. BUT I'm not even planning to start that process until November.
The reason though is a super fun one! I've committed to writing a short story for an anthology with some other writer friends, which we'll be paying for professional editing, and then self-publishing in the spring. And the deadline my editor and I have agreed to is HALLOWEEN.
But that means I'm tied to this project for a while, which is perfect because I need some space from my novel before I edit it anyhow.
So no--I'm not really "done". But I will be done by the beginning of the year, sending it around, getting thoughts, and querying and pitching to editors and agents in the spring. Plus starting on book 2 of the trilogy! Each book is a contemporary romance about a different sister in DC. Whoop whoop!
But the short story? Not contemporary romance. It's definitely leaning toward space fantasy right now. Seems like a strange pivot but not really. I'm a big fantasy and Star Wars fan, and I didn't really want to do anything tied to the current novels I'm working on. So it seemed a fun "space" to play in.
So strangely, if you want to support my career and buy my work--the first piece you'll be able to buy is this short story, which will be quite unlike my full novels! But kinda fun, right?
I also have another project in the works with some writing colleagues--a blog that's looking to launch in the New Year. I won't say much more about it now--but of course, I'll be promoting it here--and you'll get exposed to many of my good writer friends' work this way too!
So sorry for the delay--but that's where I'm at--Book 1 is sorta kinda done! And things are moving! Thank you all for your love and support as always.
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