Six months after I finished it . . .

Indianasmith · May 31, 2013

I re-read my first novel, THE TESTIMONIUM, and did some editing - trimmed its total length by about 1200 words or so - streamlined some of my over-long sentences, and most of all enjoyed getting to know my characters all over again. Of course, that means I had to re-live that incredibly difficult moment when you have to kill off someone you really liked - but it still is neat to look back and see all the places my muse took me over the course of the six months it took me to write my story.

Now I am all ready to re-commence work on my second novel, which is about 200 pages right now and about a third or so of the way through its story arc.

But still, there is a part of me tonight that is screaming: "This is a GOOD STORY!!! SOMEBODY publish it!!!!!!!!"

MacAllister · May 31, 2013

Let it sit for a while. Send it to someone you don't have a day-to-day relationship with, but whom you trust to not sugar-coat the truth to make extensive notes on it, (with their permission and agreement to participate, of course) and read their notes with dispassion and an open heart. Don't look at their comments for about three MORE months after they get back to you (but do thank them...).

But in the meantime, keep working. Write the next book. And then the book after that.

And congratulations! It's a big deal to finish a draft -- go, you!

Six months after I finished it . . .

Indianasmith

MacAllister

'Twas but a dream of thee