The Chillaxationary Position

It's OK, you're safe. I'm not starting columns on new sexual positions. It's Sunday, I'm lying on my bed with the laptop on my folded leg, and watching a spot of golf. I think, this week anyway, I've earned it. I finished to the best of my capabilities, It's What You Leave Behind this morning. Three weeks shy of a year.
It finished up at 90,353 words, which is a long way short of the original first draft, which went over 200,000. I did enjoy that re-writing process and all the edits in between. Someone once said that writing was re-writing. Up to now I didn't listen to that. This time I did.

You only ever get to write one first book and when I made the commitment to write it, I promised myself I'd test myself to the best of my ability. Over the course of the past two weeks the book went through a major and intense copy-edit, work that was slow and tedious. The final two proofreads after that, were the slowest I have ever read in my life.

From a personal prospective there is little more I can do it. If I ever do get an invite to read the entire manuscript, then I can honestly say I'm handing over the best I got inside me at the present time. I'm drawing the line under it now and although continuing submissions will be still sent out over the coming 4 weeks, if an offer to read the entire manuscript does not materialise, I'll stick with the numbers game and use that particular hit count to make an informed decision that maybe the invite will not come. It's a tough marketplace, no doubt about it.

I'm going to start the first draft of my short story contribution to the International Ink writing group by mid-week. My body aches somewhat after the past fortnight. I'm very lucky to have a very understanding partner who just leaves me to it. A tired writer can't be an easy thing to look at. It's important to have that support, especially when you consider it a job, but it brings in no money as yet. The economic times suck, but without it I may be still be one of those dreamers still waiting on the right time to do it.

I'm pretty sure many, many novels have started over the centuries and many were not completed. This was my third effort over the years. Third time lucky.

I feel like doing a little celebrating, but I doubt that is going to amount to much more than some decent sleep over the coming days and nights. A big dirty cigar and a bottle of vodka.... if only.

It's been worth the effort, if for no other reason than to maybe show the kids someday that if they put to their mind to doing something, it can be done. If for no other reason than just proving you can do it for yourself. That may sound like a cheap cop-out to failure for some, to me it's the one thing that carried this project through many long days and nights.
Of course one can't rest on laurels. Looking forward to drafting the short this week. Then it's on to researching and preparing for my second book. It will be something completely different, a dark portrait of a certain character. It will be a much different test. Will require a lot more from the writer within. It will be dealing with wayward psychology of the mind and in the crime genre. Fiction again.

Once I flesh it out and prepare properly, then it will only take about eight weeks to do a first draft. So fingers crossed early next year the countdown will be on to book 2.

Today though, it's the chillaxationary position. Here's to staying the course. For once. :)