I’m done! Five minutes ago, Sunday, December 9 at 2:03 marked one of those big moments in every writer’s life. I finished a book. WHOO HOO!!!
I save the two magic words for the moment that the final polishing is done and I‘m ready to send the manuscript to my editor. That’s when I write The End, and it’s one of the most thrilling, satisfying, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious moments a girl gets in this career.
I just did it. Wrote The End on my twenty-first manuscript. Please excuse me if this blog is a little giddy. I’m actually coming in six days ahead of deadline.
And, dang it, I’m out of olives for my martini. Guess I’ll tough it out anyway…
The manuscript I finished is ALWAYS LOOK TWICE, the third book in my contemporary romantic suspense series for NAL. It’s Mark Callahan’s story and will be in bookstores in late August. Whew.
Now comes the nerve-wracking part of being a writer–waiting for the editor to read it and tell you she loves it…or not. Some writers love what they write. Not me. By the time I’m writing the final chapters of a book, I always think my stuff is awful, that the characters are flat, that my plot is stupid, that I really would be doing trees a service if I quit pretending to be a writer.
I’m not exactly rational by the time I finish a book. (Unless, my stuff really is awful, the characters are flat, the plot stupid, and I should give it up…)
I know there are parts of any story I write that are really good. In this book for instance, readers are going to love the wedding scene at the end. They’re going to enjoy some of the bantering between the brothers. They’re going to be as surprised as my poor tortured Mark is about a secret from his past. They’re going to enjoy my heroine, Annabelle, who is the most kick-butt heroine I’ve ever written.
What I never feel confident about is the work in its entirety. Will readers love this story? Have I pulled off the suspense? The romance? Is this book as good as I want to think it is? I dunno… I always have to hear my editor’s reaction to really believe. Only then will I start to think, okay, yeah…this works. This doesn’t stink. You won’t have to go work at the cosmetic counter at Walgreens because you’ll never be able to sell another book.
So, here’s my question to my fellow Fillies and P&P readers who also write. How confident are you in your own work? At what point do you become confident? When do you…
Oh, wait. Gotta go now. My own real life Texan hero just came home with a present for me.
It’s time to celebrate!
Congrats on finishing your book I am sure that is a get feeling. I don’t write just read all the wonderful books you fillies write.
Hope the martini is good glad hubby got you your olives…
I have “mood swings” when it comes to my novels. Of course, I’ve not submitted anything yet because I still feel my stories need to simmer…I tell them to leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to them. LOL Right now when I read through them, there are some parts I adore and other parts I think {blech}…I’m still figuring out how to get them polished until I’m as satisfied as I will ever be and then I’m going to shove the babies out of the nest and see if anyone wants them.
I hit a point in my book where I can finally ’see’ the ending. I really get into a zone and the last or…about 1/6th of the book really flies for me…except the very ending. I can never figure out that perfect, exact, fun ending to suit me.
That’s why my books end up being 90,000 words long…that’s me trying to get it all set up, wrapped up then make it zing.
I noticed the end of the most recently completed book I sort of tried to make it an epic ending and on rereading it I realize it’s in this weird Omnicient POV thing, like a narrator saying what happened for the rest of their live…they had ‘however many’ kids and their ranch reached ‘to the horizon’ or something like that.
So I tried to fix it, but it didn’t have that soaring feeling of triumph I found in that omnicient (I might be using the wrong word).
So lots of fiddling there to get it just how I like, then hope the editors don’t object.
And congratulations on The End. It’s a great feeling.
Geralyn, go out and celebrate! You made it to the end despite all your doubts and fears. Aren’t you glad you stuck it out when the going was rough? There are huge rewards for those who persevere. As for your question for us fillies….I waffle between loving what I write and hating it. I’m such a big doubting Thomas. I worry that readers will think the book stinks and never buy another one. I think that’s common though from what I hear. Writers have told me it’s the curse of the business. We’re such a bundle of nerves. But, we hang in there because we believe we can reach the end. We can climb that mountain. And we can achieve our dreams. Makes me tear up to talk about the emotional turmoil that goes on inside my head.
Stay strong and please keep on writing!! You’re so talented.
Wooohooo!!! Congratulations, Geralyn
I love the feeling of being FINISHED with another book…it’s like all the holidays rolled into one on the last day of school before a long summer break…of course, that’s because I live in denial of the next deadline for at least a few weeks as my brain decompresses and I get used to the ease of moving without that two ton elephant sitting on my chest
The end of a deadline is always brutal for me because I am one of those people who only exhist in the Last Minute *g*
Cheers, Geralyn!! Be sure to celebrate
<p>As for the confidence thing….I’m only four published books into the pubbed side of writing but my process has not changed from my prepubbed days–writing is definitely a love/hate relationship for me. Confidence is a precarious thing. Some days I have it, most days I don’t. I LOVE my work when the story is still forming…all starry-eyed freshness full of promise and excitement as I sketch out all the fun actiony scenes in the story. HATE the book when it gets down to squeezing ever last word into 400 pages–my brain swells, I close myself into this dark thicket of singled-minded book focus and passion becomes WORK. I wonder how what seemed like such a great story a few months ago has become such muddled gunk–gunk that keeps growing and growing until I realize I’ve gunked up 80 pages too many, so I trim it down to 350 pages and hate it even more–pray my editors won’t mind when I add another 30 pages…..I start to wonder what it’s like for people who actually sleep and have a social life…finally I get the last word in, pray it’s not as bad as I’m afraid it is, but I’m too anxious to send it in to really care because I know if I don’t get it off my desk and turned in to my editor in that very moment I will only make it worse, so I shoot it off, pass out, and wake up feeling like I saved the world from a giant meteor
True relief doesn’t hit until my editors tell me they love it. Then I’m pretty pleased….until I start to think about reviews….ack! </p>
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<p>I’m getting ready to dig into the next deadline…and my hubby has started building up the bomb shelter–stock-piling the frozen dinners. Good thing he loves me–I’d drive myself crazy
Aargh…no time to celebrate much. I have copy-edits on my next historical due tomorrow. Sigh.
Geralyn – Congrats on finishing the book! Hugs on the copy-edits. I don’t think non-writers realize that writing is an neverending series of work. We’re never really finished, are we?
But I agree with you about HATING what you wrote. For me, I HAVE to stop my process halfway thru and re-read the story from start to middle, to make sure all my ducks are in a row. To make sure the continuity and pacing and plot all work. This usually takes away a WHOLE day or more of writing, but I have to do it to convince myself I’m NOT writing JUNK! So, I guess no matter the process, we might all go thru the same thing in some way. Writers are filled with self-doubt. I’ve admitted that. I’ve adjusted. But then, 4 or 5 months down the road, you read your story again and think, “I wrote that? Pretty darn good.” So it all works out in the wash … but there’s NOTHING like writing THE END and knowing it’s done and you made your deadline!! Enjoy your martini and your holiday!!
Geralyn, congratulations on finishing yet another book! Yay!
Like you, I’m my own worst critic. Nothing is ever good enough. And now, my internal editor has gotten so strong, I’m afraid I’ve edited out my voice even before it makes it to the page. That’s my current struggle — to let the writing just flow without worrying so much about the details, which can come later.
For me, first chapters are the pits. I hate them. If I could start with ch. 2, I’d be happy. I wrestle endlessly with that first chapter because I know it has to kick butt… and in my eyes, it never does.
Went on about the beginning and forgot to mention the ending. Once I get past a certain point in a story, the rest just roars along like a runaway train. I couldn’t stop it, even if I tried. I’ve never had a problem writing an ending, it’s just beginnings that give me fits.
)
WOOHOO! I am happy for you…you know every time an author finishes a book, it means we readers are closer to getting to read it…so we have reason to celebrate too!
CONGRATIONS on finishing that book. I think you said it best! Celebrate!!
Congratulations on finishing your book!
Congrats on the finish! I find it interesting that all the romance authors I know have this love/hate thing going on with their projects at various stages.
I’m in the middle of a book right now and just today blogged on our chapter blog about how it feels boring. Yet, as my faithful chapter members reminded me, writing a book is like a roller coaster and when you hit the middle it is that peek in a roller coaster ride where you take a breath and then “Whee” you plummet to the end with everything moving faster, one last tight curve that whips you at the end (black moment) and then tying it up, the slow coast to the end of the ride.
I think a writer’s emotions about their book rides on this same coaster ride.
What did your real life Texan bring you?
He brought me olives for my martini and mint M&M’s and a massage bar from Lush.
After twenty plus books, the man has figured it out.
Congratulations, Geralyn! Sorry to come in late, but 21 books is awesome!
FWIW, by the time I get to the end of a book I’m a mess of insecurities.
“I hate this book…it’s the worst thing I ever wrote…my editors will hate it, my readers will hate it…nobody is every going to buy anything from me again…” On and on it goes.
A few months later I get the line edits, read it again and think, “Oh, this isn’t so bad.”
By then I’m usually busy with the next worst book I ever wrote.
Elizabeth