Wednesday 18 April 2012

The Second Draft



I was desperate to finish the 2nd draft of my novel before our honeymoon this May.
It’s a honeymoon so delayed that we’ll be celebrating our 1st year anniversary while we’re away.
We’re going on a road trip through Italy and I can’t wait.
I actually wrote a blog before this one but it was a gloomy read.
At the time I had 5 chapters left to edit and I was grinding my teeth and staring out of the window dreaming of escape.
Not even my word count, a glorious 103, 660 words, could excite me.
The sludge of sentences blurred before me as I consumed an ocean of tea and coffee, and the occasional multi-vitamin which rather than boost my energy left me wanting.
If only we remembered during our darkest moods that the feeling can’t last forever!
A few hours later I was feeling much more positive and the blog post I’d written was made redundant.
It felt strange to finish the 2nd Draft. It feels significant.
At 308 pages, it’s my longest piece of work.
Each time I finish a stage I gain a slightly deeper understanding of what I’m trying to do.
My husband gave me the beautiful quill in the picture when I told him I’d completed the challenge.
I won’t be writing the 3rd Draft with it but I'll definitely be writing a dedication to him in a published copy one day; without his support I’d still be a long way off.
Next step?
We wait...
Distance from the novel will be useful.
For three weeks I’ll try to forget about what I’ve written.
With a bit of luck, when I come back, I’ll find it has matured in my absence and is far better than I thought it was.
But much more likely, I’ll be embarking on a fresh draft with renewed energy.
The funny thing is I already miss working on it.



WRITING TO MUSIC
It's been really interesting to discover that I'm not the only writer who listens to a song on repeat when they write. I only do it when I'm stuck and unmotivated. Below are two of the songs that got me through the last 5 chapters! They're both in Spanish and I think you'll probably either love them or hate them! Post your music choices!