I have spent the past month on 'hiatus'. For the novel aspect, it was intentional, from the blogging aspect...not-so-much. But now it's time for me to buckle back down and get back to work!! The month has flown so fast.
For my time off I focused on my family. So many major things were happening and I was flooded with appointments with doctor's and therapists, and had absolutely no free time! It was a blessing in disguise, though. Why?
I took a month off from my novel. The book that I'd been writing almost non-stop for three years was swept to the side. I was not ALLOWED to touch it. I wanted to be able to come back to it with "fresh eyes". I honestly didn't think I could do it. But now, I'm finding it hard to get back to it.
Real life is settling down, the endless run of doctor's appointments are over. I have no more excuses...so why do I hesitate?
Because restarting means that in a month's time (at most) I will be sending my baby off into the world to face rejection and (hopefully) acceptance...I will be starting that roller coaster ride of querying agents on the piece that has been seven years (total) in the making. A novel I never dreamed I would actually attempt to sell, but is now just waiting for the final tweaking.
Honestly, it scares the living heck out of me...but I'm ready to do it. My husband has been bugging me all month wanting to know what happened to the novel and why he hasn't heard anything since that night I jumped up and down for 'finishing' it!! Now, he gets to find out what REALLY happens next...and so do I!
And then I have to face the fact that I need to write more than just that novel...and buckle down and write some of the ideas floating in my brain!!
1 comment:
Scary, ain't it? I understand how you feel. After finishing "The Sisterhood" I was overjoyed and I thought it would be hard for me not to touch it for a while. Luckily, we went on vacation a few days later.
My sister and I started on the edits after getting some feedback from our readers. But, real life got in the way for both of us and I haven't touched the darn thing much since then. Some of that is because I would work on it and my sister who was going to help edit other chapters was way too busy. I resented all the work I was putting in.
We decided to put it on the shelf for a few months until her life calmed down. Now it looks like she'll be moving out of state, and working on it will be an even bigger challenge.
One of the best ways I found for me to get back into the manuscript was to list it as a work in progress on my website and to talk about the manuscript as if I was still working away at it. My family and friends ask about it often and what if someone stumbles upon the tagline on my site and starts asking questions. I would hate to have to say, "Oh that thing, I haven't worked on it in months."
You will be able to do it Sadie, because I know you love this story, and even though the rejections might be hard, it certainly can't be any harder than the things that have happened in other areas of your life.
There is also one other thought: What if this one manuscript ends up make a huge difference in your family's finances? Maybe it's not prudent to think that way. Lots of writers toil for years before they make any real amount of money. But I read stories about break-out authors whose books have been huge successes and I wonder if I can be one of them.
It sure doesn't hurt to dream, as long as I remember that I'm dreaming, and that writing is a lot of hard work.
Good luck!
Cheryl
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