To Say “The End”

My novel is finished.

No, I’m serious this time!

After crying wolf at least three times, I am now completely done with my novel, and plan to start sending it out to agents next week. With a little (okay, a lot!) of luck, maybe I’ll land something soon, and Dawnbringer will be on its way.

I’m constantly at war with myself between having no self-esteem at all in regards to my writing, and being a complete narcissist at the same time. I want to believe that it is good enough after each draft, yet something inside tells me to do one last round of edits. These always end up being drawn-out affairs as I add or change existing characters, and each time my narcissist side cries a little as I rip apart the beauty it created.

This time, though, the book is as good as it can be. I have confidence in my work, and while I could spend the rest of my life trimming here and adding there, I know that it will stand on its own two feet.

So wish me luck, for I’m off to the races! Prepare for a steady stream of motivational speeches about how to respond to rejection, all while secretly drying my eyes on a spare sheet of paper!

Camp NaNoWriMo - Final Thoughts

Camp NaNoWriMo has finally come to an end, and I rolled in at 50,000 words near midnight on April 30^th. I’ve continued to pluck away with the book in the week since, though at a slightly reduced pace of 1,000 words per night.

If you’re a writer and you’ve never attempted the NaNoWriMo experience, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot at least once. The pace can be somewhat frenetic if you aren’t used to it, but it will teach you a lot about holding yourself to heavy deadlines. It will also just get you in the trench each day to write, which is the best thing of all.

This nudge has finished my final rewrite, and this time, I MEAN IT! I have one last proofreading edit to do for the chapters I wrote in April, and then I am going to begin querying agents. I’d say I have about a week or so of work before I’m ready to throw down this next gauntlet in the challenge.

Wish me luck! Soon my posts will turn to the travails of finding an agent.