Novel Update #10: Whew!

December 11, 2014

Whew! It’s done…for now.

My BIG EDITS of my manuscript concluded last night.

My First full Edit consisted of inputting corrections, making some changes here and there and generally cleaning it up.

This was followed very closely by a Full-READ THROUGH Edit to see if the material made sense as a Novel, that everyone was properly named (discovering for instance the occasional name that started as one thing and ended as another for ONE character) and that I was ultimately pleased with the finished product.

The answer to that is mixed.

There comes a time in a writer’s journey where after working endlessly on your creation, you can’t think straight. You aren’t exactly sure if its any good anymore and just want to see it GONE!

Then there is the sad and more delicate side to the journey where after living with and sharing the lives of your characters for so long, where all of their memories and experiences are your own, you don’t want to say good bye. At that point, it’s like physically letting go of living breathing people and watching them walk away from you, your fingers outstretched trying to hold on to them.

I’m happily sandwiched between both these places.

Through all of this experience which began with the conclusion of writing the manuscript (Novel Update #9) this summer and culminating in this final read-through, I have learned a great deal about myself. Meeting deadlines with the daily challenges of everyday life thrown in has been very tough. I’ve failed myself on numerous occasions. That’s a frustration I would very much like to remedy in the new year.

But there is also the weight of the manuscript editing that has been on my shoulders for a while. I mean I thought with reaching the goal line last night and sending it off to my editor I would feel this “Magical Release,” this airy lightness of freedom and joy. Instead I feel like I’ve sunk so deep into the ground from the every day edit of 6-10 chapters, that now that it’s gone, I can’t pull myself out.

I’m mentally and physically exhausted and I haven’t even had the professional edit done yet.

I know it’s all worth it and I am unbelievably excited about the next phase. But with Christmas coming so soon, shopping still necessary and the school holidays right around the, ugh, corner, I’m trying to find the energy to move forward.

I will of course because I must. But I am eagerly looking forward to a little breather reprieve.

Then in the New Year I begin Draft #3. Wahoo!!

Hope you’ll stay tuned to this ever-exciting adventure as it continues to unfold…

Image Art Sculpture: Bourrasque by Paul Cocksedge.

Paula Antonello Moore, Novel update: Copyright: Wednesday, December 10, 2014

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