Shh. Listen close.
Do you hear that?
It’s the sound of my printer churning out the rough draft I just finished! Finished, as in done, finito, completed, THE END, baby! It took longer than I expected and there were times when I felt like singing, “This is the book that never ends . . . it just goes on and on my friend,” but it’s done. For now. And, it clocked in at a surprising low 258 pages, which is a record for me. Normally I’m just warming up by page 258.
So right now, I’m a happy gal. So happy that I won’t be bothered by the annoying fruit flies buzzing around my laptop because we’re all just trying to get by, aren’t we? Fruit flies included.
*Deep sigh of contentment.*
I love this part. I love peeking at the freshly printed pages and thinking, “Oh yeah! I remember writing that,” or, “Man, I totally forgot about that scene!” This is my reward, as is the valentine Hershey Kisses I bought on clearance at Wal-Mart yesterday. ($1.25 a bag, hello!) I love being able to physically hold the story before it’s hacked and slashed and rewritten into something else. It’s like the ‘before’ photograph taken when starting a new workout program, and wow–it’s going to take more than a treadmill to get this hummer in shape!
That, and I also have a different novel that needs to a major, M-A-J-O-R rewrite. And there’s the two articles I wanted to write. Oh, and what about the picture book idea I’ve been flirting with? And the mid-grade novel I wanted to start before school gets out?
*Deep shiver of anxiety.*
But that can all wait until tomorrow. Today, I’m going to watch my book being printed, hang out with my fruit fly friends, eat Hershey Kisses and enjoy the calm before my next writing storm.
*Deep sigh of contentment.*