One Down!!

I just finished my FIRST MAJOR REVISION of Between the Letters!!

WHEEEEEEEW!

Of course, this is by no means the second draft... after four years of working on this novel, it's been gutted and rebuilt and gutted again. But this was the MOTHER of overhauls!

I couldn't have gotten through it without my good friends Kristi Chestnutt and Kimberly Franklin, so thank you SO VERY MUCH. I kiss your feet! Erm... you know what I mean!
Ladies, your enthusiasm and love for this story has surpassed my own at times, and for this, I thank you... REALLY thank you. Y'all have encouraged me so much... I don't even know what to say. Sniffle.

I still have a lot to fix per their suggestions, but I think I'm going to take a good solid week and step back from it to give it fresh eyes!

To all my blog followers, old and new, thank you for the encouragement to never quit this writing thing... I hear you. Thank you, too. :)

Analogies from Strange Places

This morning I had a really strange analogy pop into my head while I was driving. First, this car pulled out in front of me like they didn’t see me there at all, only to go slower than the speed limit. I zipped around them to avoid collision, and to get back up to the speed limit, or a wee bit faster because I was running late. Now, despite the fact that I was driving faster than the offender, he caught up with me at each stop light. And I realized that sometimes, even if we drive fast, we aren’t really getting to our destination any faster. We're just increasing our chances of getting in a wreck.
And I think writing a novel and attempting to get published can be looked at this way. Think about it. If we rush through the process in a hurry to see our book in print without doing the necessary editing, going to critique group meetings, studying the market – we’re just going to keep getting stuck at red lights, and those we blazed right on by will catch up and eventually pass us, probably getting there before we do. And we may have even gotten in a wreck somewhere along the way.
I keep thinking I’m so close to being able to query agents, and while I may be close, I still have plenty I can do. Why do I feel like I need to rush? Why do I feel like I’m getting older so quickly and my chances of making something of myself are dwindling?
These things take the time that they take for a reason, and we won’t get to where we’re going any faster than we were meant to.

So, I'm pretty sure I finished my Christmas shopping today! I may still need a few stocking stuffers (it's hard when you're trying not to keep candy in the house...and not to eat it all while wrapping presents). I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and week leading up to Christmas. I'm asking for lots of books (go figure), movies, music (including both Glee soundtrack volumes!), and a few other choice items. What about y'all?

One in a Hundred

This past year I stumbled upon the blog of literary agent, Kristin Nelson. I can’t even put into words how much I’ve learned from her. She really has a heart for helping writers get the resources they need, and I so appreciate it. I read through some of her archived posts daily, and today I stumbled upon this:

“Writers with “ideas” for a great novel are a dime a dozen. It’s that one in a hundred writer who actually has the perseverance and stamina to sit down and write the entire thing (which is a huge achievement all in itself since the majority of aspiring writers never even make it that far).”

I don’t think it ever occurred to me not to finish the story that I started, but I guess some people lose their steam. Feels good to be in the minority.

I've also read elsewhere that many authors write well over five novels before getting one published. Now, having only finished one so far...that's pretty scary to hear, right? No one wants to think that their four year labor of love was for nothing.

But then, it wouldn't really have been for nothing would it? I've learned how to write and how not to write over these past four years through this process...been finding my "voice"... so I shouldn't get discouraged, right? Riiiiight. It still hurts to think that this story I'm so attached to is most likely going to float around to a few friends and live on my shelf for the rest of my life.

But we're writers. And writers write because they love it...and we aren't going to stop just because the odds seem impossible. Keep on keepin' on.