I'm happy and relieved that the draft is done, but at the same time I've found myself a little at loose ends these last few days. My energy and interest was flagging a bit at the end of the story—the last two chapters are pretty dreadful, I think, but that's what editing is for. But still, after having been in a regular routine for several months of sitting down at the kitchen table with pen and notebook every weekday morning (more accurately, most weekday mornings) and often in the afternoons, it's an adjustment to have it end suddenly. The very afternoon after I'd written "THE END" at the bottom of the manuscript I was already wandering around the house not quite knowing what to do with myself.
But that'll pass soon enough. After allowing myself a few cozy weekend days of relaxing, reading mysteries, watching basketball...then come the work week I'll be ready to look over my notebooks and decide what and where I'm going to begin editing. I won't be holding myself to nearly as rigid a schedule, though; I need a break from that. That notoriously mad month of March is never conducive to sane scheduling anyway, and I don't think I'm either mad enough or sane enough to attempt it.
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7 comments:
Congratulations on finishing!!
Way to go! As for what to call it, I think it depends entirely on who it's written for and what genre. A MG book at 40K words is most certainly a "novel" while it's a novella for adults. Of course, it's more complicated than that sometimes too.
For now, perhaps just call it "steve" yeah, that's a good name for your WIP :)
Thanks, Clare!
Steven - since it's a Western, I guess it's a novella, then. But like I said, I'm planning to add to it. Actually it does have a title...I just haven't revealed it on here yet!
Kudos to you, Elisabeth! But I know exactly what you mean: finishing is a wonderful and terrible thing at once. I always find myself rattling around all aimless and dazed after I write that last chapter. But congratulations are certainly in order, all the same.
It interests me that you prefer to write your rough drafts entirely by hand. You may have written about that already - I have an undecided feeling that you probably have - but is there any particular reason for it? Personally, I think it suits you and your writing style. It just seems "right."
Thanks, Abigail! Yes, that's exactly how I felt. :)
Hmmm...I actually can't remember myself whether I've blogged in detail about my handwriting. :) Mainly I just find it's easier for me to think while working with pen and paper than while looking at a screen—but a big part of it is that I mark up my first drafts a lot while I'm writing them. If I'm undecided about how to phrase something I'll scribble a few alternate versions above it or in the margin, and I often end up with big arrows marking where I want to move whole sentences and paragraphs! On the computer if you're dissatisfied with a sentence all you can do is hit backspace and try again, but sometimes what you've deleted could have been valuable after all. With pen and paper I can leave it all on the page and select the best version when I come to type it.
Sounds like a good reason to me! I only write occasional sections by hand in a notebook; most of my writing I do in Word. However, I do find that when I am particularly stuck and frustrated and ready to rip my hair out, it is much more freeing to get my notebook and scribble the confounded section by hand. I am sure psychologists would tell me this is because a different part of the brain is being employed. Psychologists do say such things.
Yes—after reading the comments on this post my mom showed me a quote she'd saved from somewhere about handwriting and the way the brain works. I can't recall the details, but it certainly sounded reasonable. :)
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