Writing a Novel

Mon dieu!  If you ever decide to go into the novel writing business...be prepared to be frustrated and excited at the same time!  The project that I have been working on for over a year now has given me highs and it has given me lows and it has given me all kinds of frustration!  The writing muse has been gone for quite a while as most of my day is concentrated on teaching, grading or preparing for the wedding.  Today, though, led to a break through and something clicked in the brain.  The file was opened on plan and the store was picked up right where it was left off.  It is quite amazing how that happens.  Here is a little peek from where it was picked back up after months of being ignored:

11:30 AM

            Eyes.  They were the only thing she had seen all day.  She was positive now that she could actually feel them trained on her at all times.  Erin was popular and was used to a normal amount of attention being given to her, but only from those in her class or sophomore class above her.  Today, though, all eyes were on her.

            Erin’s eyes were on the ground now, where they had been most of the day.  She had been sure to keep her eyes on the ground, her desk or the board.  She had discovered early in the day that if she kept her eyes from meeting her classmate, there would be no opening for questions and no reason for her heart to beat in an erratic manner.

That was the last thing that had been written back in October of last year.  It is a paragraph on page 87 of a standard sized document, double spaced.  In a manner of five minutes, three full pages were typed out.  It is the most that has been typed in such a long time.  It felt great to feel my fingers fly across the keys as more of the story began to fill the pages.  It is now 90 pages, standard sized, doubled spaced.

I felt creative though, and shrunk the pages down to the standard 8" high by 5.5" wide and cut the spacing to 1.5".  It makes what is typed up 136 pages long.

Hopefully this bout of inspiration will continue and I can get a good chunk of the story written and then polish it up a bit so I can start sending out feelers to agents and publishers and maybe get something going.  Every writer understands that you have to hit the market at a good time and that it isn't guaranteed that you are going to get published, but those who have read what I have been working on seemed to really enjoy it.  Stace didn't talk to me for a good twenty minutes as she was reading the day I asked her to read what I had written so far.

Stacey is one of my really great friends.  We met through John; and to this day he maintains the fact that I stole his friend from him (which is fine by me, because Stacey is awesome!).  Her and my personalities fit together real well and she is the first person I go to when I am working on my writing because we are both paranoid authors (meet a few people who really love to write and you'll know what I mean).  I think Stace will actually be proud of me for posting that little bit above because I almost always refuse to post anything I'm working on online because I don't want it to be stolen.

But anyway, off that tangent.  I recently aquired a book from BAM! called The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published.  I haven't gotten a chance to really dig in to it, but I'm hoping to delve in to it as soon as I get more of the story on the page.



Wish me luck!