At the beginning of the year, I began plotting out and writing a little story. In February I decided to write one paragraph a day for Lent. Amazingly, I stuck to it and was even motivated enough to continue doing it until mid-June when I left for Paris. After arriving home from Paris, it was hard to get back in the swing of things, but I did pretty well through parts of August and all of September. October was a mess because of Nicole's wedding, the end of first quarter, and conferences, but then, last night I did what I have been working toward since New Years' Eve Day 2006: I finished my novel.
Maybe I should call it my "novel" because it's in very, very rough shape. Some writers and teachers turn their noses up at the words "rough draft" but I NEED that sticker on it--I need people to know that this is NOT the finished product, that I'm going to keep working on it, that by the end, the finished product will look nothing like what it does now.
Even the state it's in doesn't take any of the joy away though from having finished it. I thought about this story and these characters and their motivations in the weekly car trips back to my apartment, in the shower, and especially in bed at night. When things happened in my life, I would think, how can I use this in my story? How would Mariah react to this? I lived with these characters for a year.
I'm excited to begin revisions (unlike many writers, this is one of my favorite part of the writing process). I love to see how the story will change from what I first imagined. Maybe Dacia will grow up. Maybe she'll become more selfish. Maybe Mariah will be angrier at the start of the story. Maybe she'll be more repressed and then become angrier. Maybe Nick will have a backstory ... if I can force myself to think about it. Maybe more characters, a better community will crop up. Who knows!!
But for now, I just wanted to brag that I did it. I finished it.
