I wrote my first book in just under nine months. Beginning to end, proofed, edited and sent to publisher. Funny how nine months seems like plenty of months to grow a baby, but I'm wondering how I ever managed to grow a book in so short a time. But I was driven and excited and my children were all old enough that my nights were pretty much free and clear for me to write or sleep, according to my own will, and not the demands of a nursing infant. And so I wrote.
When it was finished, my life suddenly became full of other things. I had my fifth baby, and then my sixth. I worked on my schooling. I served in church. I didn't try to stop writing, but somehow I wasn't finding (or making) time for it. A part of me, the wordy, listens to conversations in her head, writes late into the night part of me had fallen woefully silent.
14 months went by while I was waiting to hear back from the publisher that was reviewing my manuscript. I think a part of me was afraid to write something new because I wanted to see if my first book was even good enough to warrant any future effort. I realize this was ridiculous logic. Where would any writer be if one rejection stopped them from ever writing again? But so consumed was I in my waiting, that writing just didn't happen.
When acceptance finally came (Yay!) I told myself I had no reason NOT to be writing. I was good enough. My book was going to be published. Why not write another, then another? But life was so busy and the new baby, and then the other new baby, and the older kids, and the housework and this, and that, and always something else... I hardly had free time to scratch my nose, much less write a novel.
It's been 14 more months since my first manuscript was accepted. I've certainly written some. I'm well over one hundred pages into my next manuscript and you know what? I think it's good. I love my characters and the conflict is good and I think I'm moving in the right direction. But it's taking too long and I want to do better. I want to write more. No, I need to write more.
So this is me making a commitment. This is me saying that while I will always put my children first, I might not put the laundry first. (At least not every day.) I've had so many conversations with other writers about the struggle to find the balance, to make your writing priority without letting it take over your life. At the same time, a certain measure of sacrifice is required. I have so little free time as a Mom. When I have it, I'm going to have to make a conscious choice about how I want to spend it. So here we go.
1500 words a day.
Manuscript Deadline: September 30
I'm gonna do it, yo. You heard it hear first.
Care for an update on that first manuscript I mentioned up above? Heh. Me too! Still slated for a 2013 release, but details beyond that are yet unknown. The good news is that we're nearly half way to 2013!
