I Finished a Book!

Okay, after that last post I wouldn't blame you if you wondered what kind of book and so what? But I have finally finished writing a novel to the best of my abilities and have asked for readers. This is a first folks -- a novel. Not a short book. We're talking to the tune of sixty-five thousand words, and the right ones, I hope! My daughter has first dibs on the copy I've printed for myself. She said she'll put it on her summer reading chart and list it as: to be published! I've also received offers from my writing friends and I am so grateful for their time and effort. I've critiqued several novels now, so it is a strange feeling to give your book baby to someone else. It's just not the same when it's your heart that is exposed on the page.

But I wouldn't be at this stage without my writing partner Jen Heger, who literally waited for the next chapter, and because she was waiting, I would write. Some days the writing was very hard, but I did it for her. And Nancy Butts, my ICL instructor, was beyond compare. I sent her first drafts with the greatest trepidation because I knew they weren't good enough, but she not only guided me but said that it was a "luminous story." I know I should not quote private correspondence, so to balance luminous I give you: "Huh?" "Cut," "Show me!" But that word 'luminous' buoyed me. 

This is how I feel like now. Free. Euphoric.

And sleepy! I'm going to catch up on some zzzz's.

Thanks be to God for everything! And to my family and friends, who have each, in their own way, given me a boost.
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