One of my novels is nearing completion. It's terribly exciting. I'm mere chapters away from a big celebration.
There are currently seven novels in one stage or another sitting on my computer. Now some people would think that was pretty impressive. Seven novels? Why that's amazing!
No it isn't.
There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people out there in the world who start a novel or even two. Rarely do they ever finish. I want to be the exception, not the rule, and the fact that I have seven unfinished novels is grating on my nerves. Sometimes being very creative can have its drawbacks.
Many times I'll have two or three ideas floating around in my head that are begging to be put to rest on paper. Other times, while I'm somewhere in the middle of my current writing project, I'll have a vivid dream at night and get another wacky idea for a new story. Then I can't rest until it is released from its cage. Yes, there are times when I can be like a caged animal. Just ask my son.
The problem is that the new idea takes me out of the depths of the old idea. Getting back into my characters and setting once I've been out of it for awhile can be quite difficult. Some in my critique group have little hair left from all the times I've switched gears on them in midstream.
So for the past year I've made myself stick to this one novel until it is done. It's been hard. There were several months when I didn't write at all, but the story was still floating around in the back of my mind. The focus for this particular project had to remain sharp even when I didn't write. That's how I've finally gotten near this stage of completion. My excitement is growing to a feverish pitch, and I can't help but work on it every opportunity I get.
My critique group will join me in the celebration of finally completing a work. Maybe their hair will grow back then too. Of course, they don't yet know that the end will probably make them pull it all out again.
That's okay. As long as I finish one, I'll rest easy. :-)
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4 comments:
Denise, You've shamed me into dusting off my novel and adding a final chapter. Looking forward to the celebration! I've got some extra hair I could lend to anyone in the group who needs it.
Love ya', Tonya
Tonya-
More than anyone, I can use the hair.
I looked at the ending of Hell to Pay and became unhappy with it. I've fiddled with the book so much that it isn't the rough cut diamond I started out with, but a well polished gem.
Yes, I know, Denise. That gem has flaws.
Brian
Congratulations, Tonya! Anything I can do, I'm always glad to help.
Brian, no comment. See you tomorrow night!
Denise, take a look at my post today. You can see my flooded yard.
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