Finishing the Manuscript

There's something about being trapped in a classroom listening to lectures that makes my creative side come out. That's why, throughout high school, I wrote two complete manuscripts and got a solid start on the third. (Side note: I like to learn, don't get me wrong. I kept my grades up. I wasn't slacking. But sometimes those lectures...)

Anyway, those manuscripts were what you might expect from a blooming high school writer. Recently (now two years out of college with a shiny English degree under my belt), I picked up that third unfinished manuscript and thought, "You know what...there's actually some good stuff here!" So I finished it.

Let me repeat that.

I FINISHED IT.

If you've ever finished such a large undertaking, you'll understand how it feels to wrap up your loose ends, hit save, sit back and look at the whole thing, beautiful and complete. My first manuscript was completed while I was sitting around the campfire with my family at Sawbill Lake. I scrawled the final pages in a notebook (the old fashioned kind that you need a pen for), and when I added that final period, I felt AWESOME. I was so happy! I'll never forget what it felt like that first time, and this time was no different.

I stayed up way too late to finish, so when I crawled into bed, Zack was already asleep. When he stirred awake though, I whispered to him, "I finished my book." He wasn't really coherent enough to process that with me, so I laid in the darkness with a big smile on my face.

That feeling of elation can last for anywhere between ten seconds to ten days before you realize...your baby needs editing. Serious editing.

So that's what I've been up to recently. Every spare second I get, I have been reading and re-reading. Wording and re-wording. I made some drastic changes on the first go-round (changing the whole setting, removing the major romantic relationship, extending the ending from three paragraphs to three pages, and so on) and every time through thereafter, it's only gotten better. (At least, I hope so, or I'm just wasting my time!)

I realize that this topic may not be interesting to most people, but I wanted to share my journey. Fingers crossed for teaming up with a stellar literary agent and turning the little word doc on my computer into something I could share with everyone! Here we go...

Currently Reading: Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Currently Listening to: "This Fire" by Ben Rosenbush and the Brighton