Does anyone remember those humorous birthday cards with the headline “I’ve done it at last” and a list of achievements with tick-boxes…I’ve popped the question, I’ve won the pools, I’ve robbed a bank…and at the bottom, already ticked, was “I’ve remembered your birthday.”
“I’ve finished my book” wasn’t on that list, but it should have been. Because that’s what I’ve done at last. Completed the first draft of DANGER IN THE WIND, Aurelia Marcella’s fourth mystery.
I’ve been working on it quite single-mindedly over the last few weeks, which is why I haven’t been posting to my blog. Every time I thought of something I’d like to blog about, which happened fairly often, the stern voice of that spoilsport Conscience intervened: “If you’ve got the energy to write 500 words for your blog, you’ve got the energy to do another 500 words of DANGER IN THE WIND.”
Of course I haven’t totally finished with the book yet. There’ll be revisions from my editor at Poisoned Pen Press – not too many of them, I hope. There’ll be discussions about the cover, and then the proofs to check. And there’ll be the wonderful day this December when I hold a published copy in my hand.
It’s taken me far too long to write Aurelia’s latest adventure. Life, the Universe and Everything interrupted it in a big way last year; nothing to do with writing, but we had major business problems. We’re not alone there, I know. I went through a patch of feeling so pushed for time and drained of energy that I even considered abandoning Aurelia for good.
Luckily a wise friend gave me good advice just when I needed it. Hang in there, she said, because if you give up now, you’ll regret it later when the problems have gone away. She was dead right…I would have done. So though I postponed finishing the book for a bit, I didn’t give up, and…I’ve done it at last. Thanks, Carol W.
And to anyone reading this who is battling with problems that are interfering with your book, I’ll add my voice to Carol’s. Don’t give up.
Actually when I hit the Send button and sent my MS whizzing through cyberspace to Arizona I didn’t say “I’ve done it at last.” I said, “’Tis done, ‘tis done, the maiden cried,” or rather I declaimed it in triumphant tones to my empty office. I don’t know where that quotation comes from, (if you do, please tell!) and neither did the friend who introduced me to it many years ago. It’s just one I like to use when I’ve completed something long and/or difficult.
I don’t even know what it originally referred to, and perhaps I’m better in ignorance of what was done by, to, or for the maiden. Unless she’d just finished her book, of course.
