Hello? Hello I say… is this thing on? A-hem. It’s been so long since I’ve been on here, I thought maybe I’d forgotten how to blog. Ahhh. It’s all coming back to me now… (Did anyone else think of Celine and Meatloaf after reading that line? Cuz I did. I almost sprang right off my bed – which is where I’m writing this blog – and sang the rest of the verse, but then I reminded myself, “Priorities, Jessica! Priorities!”)
November has been a busy month for me. (As if it’s been super slow for everyone else. I suppose I should have stopped after the word “month”. Oh well.) I finished re-editing I’ll Love You Until amidst the busy schedule, and am currently waiting on opinions and edits. The whole process never fails to frustrate me though – I’d felt content with how everything came together, and was quite happy with the end result. But as soon as the copies were handed over and I’d promised to sit on the story for a while (giving it a break is an important part of the process – sometimes we can get overzealous and start chopping it to bits, or worse – think adding to it will make the story better when in reality it should have been left well alone), my nerves began to get the best of me again. What if I just fooling myself? What if they hate it? What if everything I thought made sense was in fact, just the opposite, and no one is going to like it now? What if…
How many writers out there have felt that way as well? Laughed or cried as you were writing, and then later thought “Holy crap, what if I’m just losing it?” I know a lot of us go through different periods of excitement, inspiration, and doubts, but if there are people out there who finish writing their final draft and think, “That was perfect – I rocked it – everyone is going to LOVE this!” please tell me how to master that thinking! (Or even better, hold a class – I’m sure it would be a sell-out!) It’s strange how one minute I can be proud of my work and on top of the world, and the next I’m biting fingernails and hoping it is going to be decent, at least. (Okay I didn’t phrase that right, I am always proud of my work – but at times I worry that I’ll be the only one proud of it. Just had to clear that up.)
I’m not as far along on NaNoWriMo as I’d hoped, considering today is the last day of November. And now for a bit of good news – the pressure has been coming at me full-force to at least try and get a few more words written, and I plan to use that feeling to my advantage and get as much done as possible by the end of the day (no matter how rough of a draft it might be). I’m almost to ten thousand words – not bad since I just started a few days ago. (Okay… technically I started at the beginning of the month. But I got sidetracked editing the final, and well, a few days ago something else came to me, so I kinda started on that instead. I still have a lot swirling around in my head for They Don’t Make Fur Coats in Camouflage...but this other one is presently taking center stage in my head.)
But enough of what’s been going on in my life – as this month draws to a close and everyone sets their sights on December – decorating, taking family photos, crossing items off our gift lists, and in my case, writing the annual family Christmas letter, I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. I hope you all get what you want and more out of this time of the year, whether it’s in writing or reading, spending time with your family, whatever.
I’m going to try to do something this month, as I know I need to keep on blogging, but will be pretty busy. Once a week I’m going to ask a question that I would love to get everyone's input. And then I’m not sure what else I’ll do. Maybe it’ll be a surprise. Yes, that’s right, of course – a surprise. (I planned it that way all along.)
Happy December, my readers!
