First Draft Done! Now What?

This has been a great writerly week for me. 

It started on Tuesday, when I got an e-mail from Hogglepot, a fantasy webzine, that they did indeed want to publish my story, Bear Hug, in February.  Yay! 

Bear Hug is the first contemporary fantasy story I wrote, and I really wanted people to read it - not because I think it's the best story I ever wrote, but because I genuinely like the story.  The ending came with a flash of inspiration, not planning. I think that is when my muse introduced herself to me.

I will post when it is up over at Hogglepot, in case you want to take a peek!  I have been reading their webzine since I found the listing on duotrope and I've enjoyed the stories they have run.  If you like quirky fantasy, I suggest you check them out!

Then, on Wednesday, I finally finished the first draft of Finding Meara.  Yay!

However, my reaction when I put down the final period baffled me.  I don't know what I expected to happen, but I can tell you what didn't happen.

A choir of angels did not come down from heaven to sing the hallelujah chorus.

A marching band didn't parade through my living room, playing kick-you-know-what music.

President Obama didn't call me from the Oval Office, offering congratulations on a job well done.

What did happen:  I sat very still on my couch, and thought "That's it?"  And then my next thought was, "Now what?"

I wondered if there was something wrong with me.  I still don't have the need to do a happy dance.  I could analyze myself to death about why I am feeling... well... nothing, really, but I think it would be a waste of time.  This week I read an excellent post at The Write Practice called Your Successes Will Never Be Successful Enough, so I'm just going to link it here.

I'm not whining, mind you.  Finishing the first draft of Finding Meara is a milestone on the journey to becoming a novelist, for sure.  I am happy to have finished, and proud of the work I have done so far.  But it is only one of those action steps every writer must take on the path to publication.  

The answer to my "Now what?" is, of course, revisions, writing more stories, and learning how to write query letters, a synopsis, a "blurb," a pitch, and so one. Already I am planning my next few months, fitting my writing goals into the cracks of time left over in my everyday life.

But, I am going to take the lesson learned from Joe Bunting at the Write Practice, and enjoy this successful week for what it is. 

Because I finished my first draft, I am going to take a four day holiday (instead of just two days) from writing, and enjoy my Christmas, and my family, and not worry about the novel.

And I am going to wish you all a very merry Holiday Season!  I hope it is filled with peace and contentment and all the important things!

Aren't We There Yet?

HEINLEIN'S RULES FOR WRITING (from his 1947 essay "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction."
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1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.

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I learned these rules by hanging out on the Writer’s Digest forum.  I believe they are the wisest of advice for writers, and I have always done very well following them, up until now.  For some reason, I am having trouble finishing the first draft of my novel.  I am within five-thousand words of typing those magic words “the end.”  Five-thousand words!  It’s not writer’s block.  I totally know what needs to happen.  I just don’t seem to have the desire to write it down.  I am procrastinating, and I don’t know why.

A week or so ago I downloaded the War of Art by Shawn Coyne and Stephen Pressfield onto my Nook.  It’s short, very easy to read, and very wise, as well.  I think I found my answer to my procrastination issue within the electronic pages, in a chapter labeled “Resistance is Most Powerful at the Finish Line.”  If you want to know what Resistance is, I recommend you get the book and read it, but my understanding of Resistance is that it is the thing that holds us back from achieving that which we are called to be.  Mr. Pressfield states “The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight.  At this point, Resistance knows we’re about to beat it.  It hits the panic button.  It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it’s got.”

Resistance for me says “You can write it tomorrow.  You don’t have to be in any hurry.   Stop being so neurotic about finishing, it probably isn’t good enough anyway.  It’s a first novel, for God’s sake.”  And I slowly lose my momentum, like a car that gets a flat tire and flops to a stop on the side of the road.

I know I have to finish this novel.  I am not a writer if I don’t.  I am just someone who wrote most of a novel.  And there is no remedy, except to “Just Do It.”  Nike really got it right.  No therapy, no conversation, no reading, no inspiration is going to get me going.  I have to just do it.  Grit my teeth, get my butt in my new office chair, log on and do it.

The thing is, I know that once I do, it is all so easy. I can relax, and let my imagination take me by the hand and lead me down the creative pathway to the finish line.  What perplexes me is that I make it so hard on myself to get to that point.  How silly to fight against such a positive experience.  The fight is what makes me think Steven Pressfield is right.  Resistance is only as big as we make it out to be.  Every day we have to take up the fight to be more and to achieve more than the last day.  No excuses, no procrastination, no fear allowed.  Just do it.