It…is…finished!

After two months of doing nothing but writing (when not attending to life, of course), I can finally say that 85,000 words and several edits later, I have completed my first solo young adult novel – The Ordinarys. This is such an enormous accomplishment for me, who’s always had a hard time finishing anything! Oh, I’ve started many a great project, but it always seemed like something would get in the way (okay, it was usually just my own procrastination). I think the reason why this was so different is that I wrote the kind of story that I personally love to read, with the kind of romance and adventure that draws me into a story. I also let that which angers me in today’s world, such as greed and lust for power, fuel me forward through my writing. Add that to the fact that I never stopped, never missed a single day of writing, and voila – a completed novel.

Passion (+ pissed off) + perseverance = personal success!

Now it’s time to ship it off to the world of literary agents. Let the rejections (and hopefully an acceptance) commence!

Dating My Manuscript

It’s like when I first dated my husband back in the day. All day long my thoughts were consumed with him, and every moment that I wasn’t with him seemed wasted. I thought about him nonstop, and just looking at him made my knees weak and my pulse race.

Now I have those same “newly dating” feelings again…with my manuscript.  One of the tasks in chapter 2 of Julia Cameron’s Walking in this World ask questions related to what you would do if you had unlimited funds and unlimited time. Well, I don’t have either – not by a long shot. I have a great part-time job and three kids that keep me very busy, especially considering one is a toddler. In the past I have said I’m “too busy” to write, to pursue my dream of becoming a writer. In fact, the last book took years to complete. But suddenly, I’m finding myself “dating” my manuscript. I started writing this book just over a month ago and almost sixty thousand words later, am still going strong. I don’t have the time, but I’m finding the time. Any chance I get – whether it’s at night when the kids go to sleep, during my baby’s nap, in the car (not as driver, obviously) – I’m writing.  So while it would be very nice to have unlimited funds and unlimited time, I’m not letting that stop me from pursuing my passion for writing.

And to my husband – I continue to have those same feelings for you today as well. Thank you for your patience as I disappear most nights with laptop in hand. One day soon you’ll have me back…

…unless there’s a sequel, of course.