Novelist

What a long, strange trip it's been. If you'd have told me back in November 2007 that it would take this long to finish my first novel--I'd have laughed. After all, NaNoWriMo was challenging, but I met the 50,000 word quota. Surely it would only take a few weeks in December to wrap things up, right?

Well it wasn't that easy. I took some time off (which was a mistake) after the marathon writing session that was November 2007. Then I went back and read some of what I wrote--and I loved some parts, but didn't like others. I was too scared to cut what needed to go, because I knew I'd be losing a lot of what I had (and after all I was trying to ADD to the thing, not have LESS). So I put it away, and six months slipped by.Eventually, it was time to get married, and I felt my life start to pass me by. I realized that if I didn't finish the book soon, I might never finish it.

I had tried to start something new, but I couldn't go forward until I finished THE MOSQUITO VINE. So, the week after the wedding, I started editing and writing again. I finished the first draft the week of Thanksgiving 2008. During the second round of edits, I did what needed to be done, I killed the secondary--weaker, plot thread. Thus killing my ending. Once the editing was done, I sat down and over a period of one week wrote a new ending.

Yesterday, I sat next to my mothers bed and edited those final pages. And today, a day that will forever be historic in my own personal life, April 15, 2009 I went and printed off the second (and very-readable) draft of my first complete novel:



I want to thank everyone for encouraging me, but special thanks to Leah who put up with me shutting the door and working every night for a month (November 2008). Thank god you like playing solitaire so much. Beyond just tolerating me working though, she's also a key reason the book is finished. I was totally prepared to give up many times, and she never let me.

One down, eleven to go baby.