The Chaff

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

DOOOOOOOONNNNNE da-DONE DONE!

Yes, the infamous rewrite of my novel is finally done. It’s all over but the proofreading.

Almost two years ago, I started a ground-up rewrite of my first novel (originally completed nearly 12 years ago). The original novel was 180,000 words. At a writing seminar, Donald Maas suggested I consider splitting the monstrosity INTO two pieces if I ever hoped to get it published. In the long run, I had to split it INTO three. I had it scheduled to take about four-six months per book.

Then my husband got laid off again. Suddenly, the “fill in the holes in our budget” part time contract I’d picked up after my last layoff became our primary source of income. I had to take on a second contract to keep us going, and then as my contract dropped lower and lower, I had to scramble for work more and more.

Then I finally got a full time job–at about a 20% pay cut FROM my latest contract, and about a 40% pay cut FROM my last full time job, but hey, our bills were paid, and after a few months I even managed to stop flinching every time I scanned my badge. Other life aspects–a new dance troupe, dance classes, kid commitments, etc.–interfered, and the novel sat by the wayside for months at a time. And as the dance classes failed and the dance troupe quite literally exploded in my face, the stress and depression took their toll, too.

So, finally, a long and winding road comes to an end–or rather a fork. The first book of the triology is done, and now I have to decide whether to continue with the next two rewrites or switch to a different series. I don’t even know where to begin making that decision.

Anyway, tonight is celebrate time, not whine and worry time. I’ll start the proofreading tomorrow.

I could use some test readers; if anyone is interested, DROP me a line.

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