Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Coming up for airWell, I did it. I finished my third book for Spice and WELL in advance of my deadline, I might add (ever so humbly.) I've never written a book of this length in so little time. But I had no choice! My deadline for book #3 came in as August. What could I do? I had to write it or risk looking like a whiny puss pants.
Ok. So I probably did anyway, what with the hand wringing and nail biting and stomach churning. I knew it wouldn't be easy. Summer is traditionally not a good time for me a writer. My kids are home from school and vacation and family activities eat into the time I would normally spend writing. I end up staying awake far, far into the night -- 2 am seems to be my average this year, down from last year's 3 am, though I hit that few times, too. Night time is the only time I have to myself in the summer.
This summer I also had three weeks of camp. Normally I'd send the kids to camp for one week, just to get them out of my hair and give them something to do. But this year, three weeks it was and thank goodness for them. I dropped them off at camp, came home, sat in my chair and wrote...until it was time to pick them up. I hit a personal best during that time -- 32 pages of work in one day. I was brain dead and my butt was numb, but the book spewed out of me like curses from a sailor's mouth.
Now really, the idea of writing a 100,000 word novel in a couple of months shouldn't have been so daunting. It's just that I'd never done it on so tight a schedule, and wouldn't have attempted it with my kids out of school. Only determination, a contract and summer camp saved me.
I did it. Wrote, polished, edited (and had the support and help of FABULOUS readers to help me) and submitted that book to my agent five days before I'm due to leave for my summer vacation. Now I have a week at the beach without worry.
Well. I'll still worry. Worry the book sucks. That because I wrote it so fast it stinks worse than a porta-potty in August. That I suck because I can't se how much I stink. That my editor will hate the book. Hate me.
My life will be ruuuuuuuuuuuuuined!!!!
Annnnd we're back to the melodrama.
Overall, it wasn't the ideal but I can't complain. Other authors have had to do more with less. I got the work done. I put out a book I feel proud of (even if it does suck). I worked my butt off and I got it done, and I can spend the rest of my summer slacking off.
Well.
Except for that other book I started plotting. And the short stories I'm thinking about. Oh, and the sf novel I'm not sure anyone will buy but I want to write, anyway...oh! And the screenplay!...And...
So that's it. Sorry I was gone for so long. I was blog deficient. But now I'm back with plenty of blather!
M
