Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Accomplishments

Good news, everyone! I finished my rewrites!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

... of course, now comes the editing and polishing of the rewrites, but I'm giving myself a week off first. I am super happy with the way things worked out: I definitely need to sand off the rough edges, but this is much closer to the original book I had in mind in terms of themes, worldbuilding, and voice. It is also much longer, which I knew it would be, but I'm still going to chop off as much as possible.

In any case, I e-mailed Secret Agent Man and told him I'd be sending him the finished product sometime next month. I am pumped and terrified at the same time.

Every writer needs a support group, and I have a wonderful one. My friends and family have been absolutely fantastic from the get-go. There's something they always say, though, and until recently, I just thought they were being nice: "I'm so proud of how far you've come."

And I'd always think, "But I have so much left to go." I hadn't reached my goal yet, and when I thought about my progress, that was all I could see.

-- of course, that's incredibly silly. It's my dream to be a professional author, and if I can get that far, there will always be new goals. Even if I'm lucky enough to sign with Secret Agent Man, I'll still have to go out on submission. Even if I'm astronomically lucky enough to get this book published, there's still the next book to worry about. And as with any goal, I'm sure there will be unexpected setbacks and changes that need to be accounted for - few things ever turn out exactly the way they do in your head.

And that's why I decided to make a point of celebrating when the smaller goals are met. Finishing rewrites was a pretty big one, but there were all sorts of goals in-between, too. I celebrated when I got ahead of my set schedule. I celebrated if I was having a particularly tough day but I managed to write something anyway. I celebrated when I managed to pull off a tricky scene, when I nailed down an elusive plot point, or when I finally wrote out a moment that's been in my head for months. These celebrations typically just involved me, a rented movie, and some sushi, but it allowed me to take some time just to feel happy about what I'd accomplished.

I know writers are a pretty driven, self-critical bunch, but I don't think that should preclude us from feeling good about ourselves. So no matter what happens with this manuscript, I'm going to be proud of it. Because even if it isn't The One, I've learned so much from writing it!

What goals have you accomplished lately? (Non-writing goals totally count!)

9 comments:

  1. Well, I wrote 87K last month - 80K for a completed rough draft of my nano novel and a 7K short story (which was already accept for Still Moments Publishing's Valentine Delight anthology).

    I'm hoping to finish a MG fantasy adventure story before next year. Already have 23K written, only about 7-12K more to go!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW, Nicole! That's amazing! Talk about productivity. Congratulations on your short story acceptance!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is totally awesome! Congrats! I won NaNo... (okay I know that was two weeks ago but I've been busy) :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Celebrate and relax, there is always more to do. It feels so good to know what we can and do accomplish, it's even better when others see it too, even if it is just our loved ones. The see the work you put into it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. J.A - Congratulations! I have never won NaNo before, so I have much admiration for those who do. :D

    Cynthia - Absolutely! It's been great to go through this experience from the beginning with my friends and family. I wouldn't have gotten this far without them!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good luck with Secret Agent Man. Congrats on the rewrites and the much-deserved week off.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm kind of late getting here, but wanted to say congratulations on your rewrites, and I completely agree with celebrating the meeting of any goal. Every step forward is an accomplishment. Hope things go well with Secret Agent Man.

    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete