Finito!

I have finished the first draft  of my book, A Season, and A Time, so am somewhere between shattered and elated.  When I feel I am in the home stretch I tend to pull out all the stops so I have been writing over 3000 words a day for the last ten days or so.   Which leaves me feeling a little drained.  I have no idea why I put so much pressure on myself but I can't help it - the story just builds up the momentum and like a snowball carries me along with it. 

When I started this book, in March, I had no idea of the turns it would take.  I started as usual with a basic story line and the characters (I spend ages pondering about my characters - I can't write in their voice till I feel I know them intimately), as well as the ending, which in this case was a true story from my own experience, and the title.  Not for me something called a working title.  If I don't have a title I can't tell a story.  Yes, I know I'm a bit strange - I wouldn't be a writer if I weren't!

Then after I start I just let it happen, and often my characters surprise me - they often impress me too.  Not really surprising as all my books seem to feature a strong woman as the main character, or at least one of the main characters.

Of course now the hard work starts - I need to read the whole story, out loud, pretty much at a sitting, for consistency and continuity and at the same time proof read, for those inevitable typos that slip in.  If  someone could come up with a spellcheck which can differentiate between from and form they would make a fortune!  I have found that for me the best way of proof reading is to make the font large, so that any typos literally jump out. 

The joys of self publishing - in traditional publishing there would be editors doing this work - although I have found mistakes recently in work published by some of the top publishing houses in the world, so even that wouldn't be fool proof. 

Till next time :)