Well, Pardner, we’re jest
about thar.
Oh, excuse me, I’m getting a
lil dippy about this point in the game.
This coming week brings my
friends and I to the end of our first draft. Some of us won’t actually be done
in 30 days, but it won’t take long now to do those last pieces. We had to face
the reality of events at home beyond our control. But we didn’t give up.
Somehow we continued plugging away.
Isn’t that how the writing
gets done anyway?
We’ve all learned a
tremendous amount about putting a book together.
Thank you, Karen Wiesner,
author of First Draft in 30 Days.
We’ll put it aside for now,
as recommended, and revisit it in a couple weeks.
Then we’ll firm up the final
draft. After that, we write the book. That’s something some of us got hung up
on—that we were not writing the book
at this stage. We were merely gathering all the pieces and getting them in a
semblance of order. I found where I did not have enough content in the middle.
But then, I realized I hadn’t been pulling the subplot threads through all the
chapters.
I learned some other things,
too, which will help in my freelance career.
I learned that I can work.
After sickness all last year, I wasn’t sure I had the stamina to put in the
hours necessary, or if my body could handle the physical part. For me that’s
typing all day with crippled hands. But I surprised myself—I worked mornings
with short breaks and no phone calls.
Some days a nap was
necessary, but I found I could work several hours more in the afternoon. I
averaged 6-7 hours four days a week. That bodes well for my next book and those
articles I want to write.
Don’t ever think you can’t do
something. At least try. There are limits—that’s the reality. But you will
probably find you can go beyond the limits to a new place.
That’s all fer now, Pardner,
I see the spring water flowing and hear the dinner bell clanging. C’mon along,
there’s plenty fer all of us.
