Okay...so I never have been an expert at deadlines. My own, apparently, are no exception. But thankfully I don't consider it a complete failure. Not in the way that most of my "deadlines" have been utter busts over the years. This time, at the very least, I can say that I sat and grinded on my manuscript ALL. WEEKEND. LONG. From wake to crash I read, typed, retyped, read aloud until my eyes burned. And you know something? It felt good. It felt good to be motivated again.
For years this project has been with me, in the back of my mind and heart, waiting to show itself to the world. The characters screamed at me to finish their stories, to give them closure, and being their god I denied them...because I knew their futures. It didn't matter if the rest of the world knew. No one else appeared to give a damn anyway.
Now, even though I've sent word to close to fifty people and received maybe ten responses, I know that at least a few people are interested in taking a peek at the world I've created. As a god of my own little fictitious universe, this pleases me. I managed to hammer out a complete rewrite of the first chapter, sixteen pages, in two days. Might not sound like much, but coming from me, that is a lot. Especially considering that the second half of the book's final chapter, fifteen pages, took close to three months to finish.
What have I learned from this weekend? That I AM capable of being infused with motivation, after years spent dabbling and struggling to get a few lines down over the course of weeks. That there ARE people waiting for me to tie the pretty little bow around my life's work (yes, I consider 10 of 24 years my life's work). That I CAN outdo myself from time to time when I throw aside the limitations and work from freeflowing creativity. And that even though I may miss a deadline or two and disappoint a few friends, family and fans along the way, the end result can and WILL justify the delay. After a decade's worth of creating, fleshing out, designing, writing, dreaming, breathing, and ignoring my little fantasy world, I owe it to you, dear reader, to give you the best I have to offer.
Back to work. =)
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I am beaming with pride for you right now! Yes there have been many who have been disappointed in not receiving the promised chapter or star-break we have been left hanging on. You did get it done in the end and as you said, we got what we were waiting for. (From my own thoughts, I definitely got more than what I expected in those chapters... so I was not disappointed in the end at all as you well know. I never could really pin what was going to happen next.)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations again by completing the book (other than the little fixes along the way) and now all you have to do is send it out to those waiting fans first to get feedback. Then hopefully soon, your own personally signed book will follow quickly after. :)