I cut a headline out of "O" magazine some time ago, and early in 2008 taped it to my laptop in the space beside the touchpad: THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL.
And I did! Yay. After so many ditched attempts over the years of novels that curled up and died half-way through, I finally conquered my plotting dilemmas and got all the way to "the end." And it turned out even better than I'd hoped.
As a reward for the monster crunch effort of churning out a complete draft by the end of November, I've given myself the month of December off. No novelling on my stuff, just relaxation and reading other people's books. This month off is supposed to provide sufficient distance/perspective to put Baking with Intent through another round of polishes before I head to the Left Coast Crime conference in early March.
I'm ready to dive in tomorrow (Jan.1 '09) and eager to discover how it reads now that I haven't looked at it in a month. Fingers crossed I'm still tickled pink with the fruit of this year's biggest creative effort.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Decompressing
Geeze, it was like being back in college again, when I'd put off a paper until the last moment and then have to pull an allnighter to get it done. (Not that I can pull off an allnighter anymore; just staying up post midnight feels about the same these days. Can't sleep past 7am, either, which surely impacts the too-old-for-allnighters equation in some way.)
Anyway, got my novel submission draft off to the post office last Saturday morning at about 9:40, less than three hours before mailing deadline. And then, after a week of 14-16 hour write/edit days, I decompressed. Spent most of Sat. afternoon sprawled on a lounge chair on the upstairs deck, staring into space and enjoying a leisurely brain melt.
Then, an overdue and very lowkey turkey dinner on Sunday for me and hubbie, for whose support and patience I am eternally grateful.
Now catch up on everything else has begun. I'm creeping toward getting all holiday packages in the mail, aim to do cards/calendars over the weekend, then make one more PO run on Monday. Have also made something that in the right light almost looks almost like a dent in the backlog of bookkeeping for our online businesses. Would like to be as caught up as possible on all that by 12/31.
Next week I'll look at the novel again: clean up my draft-in-progress files; start the next list of tweaks and edits to be done. I wish I'd had another week before sending it in, but such is the Slacker-Novelist way. At least three chapters are still too long, and I wanted to add in a few more details to set up, clarify, and/or wrap up various themes, character arcs, and plot threads. Next draft will have 'em.
Then I get to dig out NaNovels '05-'06, for which this recent effort started out as a pre-quel, and see what's in there that will work as the sequel to what is now Baking with Intent. Pulled that title out of a piece of dialogue near the end at the last minute, as I was still desperately in need of a title -- couldn't print out my submission draft without one. Not sure I love it, but it will do.
Anyway, got my novel submission draft off to the post office last Saturday morning at about 9:40, less than three hours before mailing deadline. And then, after a week of 14-16 hour write/edit days, I decompressed. Spent most of Sat. afternoon sprawled on a lounge chair on the upstairs deck, staring into space and enjoying a leisurely brain melt.
Then, an overdue and very lowkey turkey dinner on Sunday for me and hubbie, for whose support and patience I am eternally grateful.
Now catch up on everything else has begun. I'm creeping toward getting all holiday packages in the mail, aim to do cards/calendars over the weekend, then make one more PO run on Monday. Have also made something that in the right light almost looks almost like a dent in the backlog of bookkeeping for our online businesses. Would like to be as caught up as possible on all that by 12/31.
Next week I'll look at the novel again: clean up my draft-in-progress files; start the next list of tweaks and edits to be done. I wish I'd had another week before sending it in, but such is the Slacker-Novelist way. At least three chapters are still too long, and I wanted to add in a few more details to set up, clarify, and/or wrap up various themes, character arcs, and plot threads. Next draft will have 'em.
Then I get to dig out NaNovels '05-'06, for which this recent effort started out as a pre-quel, and see what's in there that will work as the sequel to what is now Baking with Intent. Pulled that title out of a piece of dialogue near the end at the last minute, as I was still desperately in need of a title -- couldn't print out my submission draft without one. Not sure I love it, but it will do.
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