It's All Downhill From Here

I'm about 50% of the way through my final draft and, if I keep this up, I might (although I shouldn't tempt fate) finish well ahead of my self-imposed deadline. It's taken a long time and a lot of hard work to get to this point. The characters and their world become more real to me every day and I often talk to B about them as if they are real people. Fortunately B is very good at humouring me. I sometimes wonder if it's the writing process itself that makes many writers become eccentric, although I suspect that some (like me) were half way there already! It's hardly surprising when you're constantly imagining conversations between fictional characters, especially when they're having arguments with each other!
So, I hope to finish this final draft by late May / early June. Once I've done this and given it one final polish, I'm going to resend it to the nice agent who offered to reread it. The thought makes me excited and a more than a bit scared. I will have done my best but what if she doesn't like it? What if no one else likes it? It's a sobering thought and one I choose not to think about most of the time. It's hard when you've spent years creating something that you hope others will like, especially children. It's a tough old world and everyone's a critic in this digital age. Let's just hope that enough people like it to give it decent reviews.
But better to try and all that. Here's to everyone who ever dared to follow their dreams, regardless of the consequences!

Anyone for Tennis?

I'm still making steady progress with my book but, as ever, the real battle is the internal one.
My greatest enemy has always been self doubt, a common affliction especially for writers and would-be writers when it comes to believing in their work. For me it's a battle I think I'm winning. At the moment every negative voice is being slammed down by a positive one. But I think there are many fantastic writers out there who we've never heard of simply because they don't believe in themselves enough. And yet they are as good as and sometimes superior to many writers who are already published! I wish I could make them believe how good they are and convince them they can succeed. And if I ever do get published and get to teach creative writing I reckon it would be worth spending half the class working on people's confidence. It's a bit like the top tennis players - they all have the same skill set / level - in the end those that win are the ones with the psychological edge.
Regarding my work, I've promised myself that the book will get finished and resubmitted before the summer's out. Maybe it'll even be finished in time for Wimbledon?

Slow Progress

I'm still working on what I hope to be the 'final draft' (until someone tells me otherwise!) However it's been slow progress this last week as R has been extremely poorly and I've been snowed under at work. So it's been a week of sleepless nights and overtime. I've always been a bit of a night owl but lately I've been in bed by 8pm every night. This has, unsurprisingly, somewhat diminished my 'writing time'. I've still managed to write every day (bar Thursday) but the going's been painfully slow. And, as I abandoned the fourth draft and went back to the start again, I'm only about 20% of the way through the latest draft. I think it's unlikely that I will get the whole book finished by Easter but I'm pleased with what I've done so far (a rarity for me!) Here's hoping I can get the rest completed to the same standard and that someone loves it enough to one day publish it.