Writing a book is a long, arduous process. This particular story has not been an easy one for me. I started with a premise back in the fall and stumbled along the way to the end. Multiple times I had to put the book aside and ponder where to take the story. Usually, it comes a bit easier for me, but sometimes life has a way of stifling the creative process. My muse definitely got gagged and tied up somewhere with this book.
However, I am happy to report that on day 57 of being stuck at home because of a novel virus circling the world, I was able to focus on the book. Actually, I still had to pause a few days at a time and get into my characters’ heads. After much agonizing, laying in bed thinking about it, wandering around the house from the bedroom to the living room, I dug through the roadblocks and finished the first draft.
Of course, that’s just the first draft ending with 39 chapters and 82,840 words. It’s time to go back and edit, chop, rearrange, fill in plot holes, and double-check for consistency. Then comes draft two, three, and maybe four, after pulling it through Grammarly and ProWriting Aid. Then when I think it’s somewhat polished, it flies off to Victory Editing to be redlined to death, pointing out my lousy grammar, punctuation, and other ills in the text.
Once that comes back, then it’s the final draft, formatting for eBook and print, uploading it for distribution, and all the things that go along with being a publisher. I often think about Winston Churchill’s thoughts on releasing a book. It is so true.
“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”
Hopefully, by July or August, I will release this monster and fling it to the public. In closing, I will say that I’ve learned something valuable about myself. I love writing family sagas. This book is a standalone work, but I could branch it off to another two or three books afterward. If the demand is there, I will think about it.
It will be classified as a family saga. Set in 1840, it has a romantic element; however, there is no sex in this one, folks. It’s squeaky clean, even though my characters didn’t necessarily live their lives that way. Oh, and you’ll be reading references to Egypt as well. Go scratch your head over that tidbit.
That’s all for now.
All my best,
Vicki