It's been a long, long time. With my MFA in the rear view, along with my second novel, I'm ready to get back in the saddle and practice what I've been learning over the past two years--writing. Novel three has officially begun production, and I think it has the potential to trump anything I've ever written before...ever.
The hard part is getting used to the idea of writing something completely on my own, without a mentor. I have a dear friend who appears willing to be my first reader along the way, and my wife will certainly chime in once the first draft is done and ready to be read, but not having a professional, published, successful writer to read every word along the way is a bit frightening.
Or maybe it's liberating. This puppy's mine...all mine! Muhuhahaha! I feel like I've spent so much time on classes outside of fiction writing, and revising works I almost don't remember writing, that's it feels good to get cracking on a new project. I hope to finish a draft over the summer and then truly take my time plugging away at revisions with no artificial deadlines. I'm pretty damned determined, so I don't worry that I'll slack knowing there's no deadline. I just want it to get done, be perfect, get published, and see this puppy in print.
However, I'm not giving up on novels one and two. I have an agent meeting scheduled in August, and I'm sending out queries regularly hoping to catch some fish. I think I've gotten both novels to come as far as they can, but I continue to read and revise as needed. In fact, I'll be reading from my thesis at WestConn in August as well.
Either way, I'm excited about writing as much as possible, whether it be working on this new novel, revising the other two, or blogging right here. Yes, writing is a Bittersweet Trail, but it's one we love strolling down. So, with all apologies to Whitesnake, here I go again on my own
Good luck! I'm sure book 3 will be as awesome as 1 and 2.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm back in the house after the flood evacuation, life is settling back to normal. I haven't written a new word in months and I feel stagnant and guilty, so it's time to fire it up and get back to the keyboard. I still need to finish that sci-fi novel, though I'm still stuck at the same stupid place without a solution. Maybe I'll be inspired if I reread it after letting it sit for months. *sigh*
Plus, there's always book two of the romance series that needs to be done. So I'm definitely not without stuff to work on.
Oh, and of course the woefully neglected blogs need attention, too.
So that's my writing rant. I'll be seein' ya at the rez and look forward to your reading. Wonder which of us will be closer to finishing our latest project by then?