Friday, December 31, 2010

Meeting my goal

This morning, about 11:55, I finished the first draft of my second novel. In September, I set a goal of completing the draft by the end of the year. I didn't know then how many chapters were left to write or how many writing days I'd find in my calendar. I did know that I'd have a week of writing retreat in November and again now.

Since I've been here, I've had amazing computer problems. I broke a portion of my laptop screen. Borrowed a friend's Mac, then lost two days of writing because my thumb drive wasn't working right, and had to rewrite 3 chapters.

But it's done and it hasn't been too arduous. I've days of stop and start creativity and days of flow, I've had brilliant ideas that panned out and some that didn't. I've had stupid ideas that I tried to cram into the story and then saw how lame they were.

I've had big decisions to make. I had to identify the killer, bring him together with the detective, and make life and death choices. Who goes? Who stays? Who gets the girl? (Well, the older woman.)

At times, the writing process was as suspenseful as the story itself, my creative flow almost breathless as the ideas tumbled into place like the lock on a vault. At others, I had to pace around and make myself wait for the right decision to come.

I'm reminding myself that this is the first draft and some things may not work, but for now, I have an ending that pleases me. And I'm really happy! Happy New Year!