I stamped FINAL on my manuscript this morning - just before midday.
Over the past two days I have been pleasantly ensconced at my holiday house at American River/Kangaroo Island with a stunning view of a lagoon, working on the final edits suggested to me by my editor J. who supplied me with a brilliant set of notes with her edit. I didn't take me as long as I thought to achieve it but then again I kinda lost track of time, particularly yesterday when I got the bulk of the work done.
I made a few minor tweaks of my own which came to me late in the peace but were ones that I felt were of value in order to enhance the mystery of the early part of the novel. So now I sit before my laptop with Keith and the Girl playing on my smart phone writing this and feeling a sense of accomplishment and a sense of sadness. There is nothing more to do to the story. I can't see anything in it that I can improve on or change. I no longer need to inhabit this world that I created on my own, in my head and transmitted it to paper (or the computer as it were). I have come to really like the characters that I created, their simple ways, their flaws, their hopes and their dreams. I am happy with the settings that I have populated. Although I haven't been able to visit the city of Chicago - where part of the novel is set - I hope I have portrayed it in such a way that sounds authentic. I did a lot of reading about Chicago during the writing of the novel and have had contact with many people there. The places here in Australia were much easier to portray as I have experienced them all first hand. And I liked them a lot.
So now - where to? Well I need to bed down the cover art for the book still and I need to come up with a decent bio blurb about myself. I have discovered that it is much harder to do than I thought. And then I cast myself and my work forth for consideration. Beyond that - once the work is out there - the job of promoting it HARD begins. And I intend to make use of as many resources online as I can...
Back to feeding the baby...
DFA.
Good for you! Finishing a book is a BIG DEAL, and you should be so very proud of yourself. I cried after I completed my first book. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read yours!
Awww - Thank you so much Melissa. I keep wanting to go back and look at it again and again but I'm trying not to. Although...in the past 24 hours I have been considering a title change to the novel. My partner thinks it sounds a little too Mills & Boon and now I've got this image of Fabio stuck in my head - which is bad enough on it's own let alone on the cover of my (hopefully) classy love story.
ReplyDeleteI can totally understand your own emotions Melissa. Julia's journey was so full and it really rode the roller coaster. I can see you really gave a lot to her.