…why am I here blogging?
Seriously. I am up to the final scenes before those two amazing words: THE END
I can’t wait to type them in context. And yet… I’m also afraid to. I’m in love with the story I’m writing. I’m always in love with a story I’m writing. The characters become friends, housemates, secret whispers in my ear at all times of day and night. I see and hear them, feel their angst, their relief. And then… I have to say goodbye to them. It’s a bittersweet moment.
Maybe that’s why I’m here instead of there. I’ve always had trouble with ‘goodbye’. I suppose I’ll just have to remind myself that ‘goodbye’ won’t really come for quite some time. These characters and their story will stay with me well into this new year. I’ll have to write up an intriguing query and condense my 300-page manuscript down to a 5-page synopsis. I’ll have to determine which agents I’d like to send that query and synopsis to. And then I’ll have to wait for their reply, hope a request is made…
Funny. Suddenly, the end seems WAY in the future. But that’s okay. It’s the process, and, to be honest, it’s very exciting.
Meanwhile, as far as story goes, I have 15 Chapters and the Epilogue finished. All that’s left is Chapter 16. Yes… I wrote the epilogue before I wrote the climax. <shrug> What can I say, I’m a rule-breaker. And once 16 is complete, I’ll be playing with all the titles I’ve thought of since my working title just isn’t going to do it.
I found a way to distract myself when the writing gets too intense.
Okay.
Fine.
I’ll rephrase.
I found a way to procrastinate when I should be writing but am not doing so for whatever reason. It’s this quirky and fun little ‘romance cover’ generator. Too cute. Too addictive.
Here’s the “cover” of “my book” with one of my title ideas…
Oooooo! And here’s another one! 
Go play… you, too, can procrastinate like me. 🙂
Oh, and because I just can’t seem to get enough…
Under the Tuscan Sun was on last night and I watched a bit of it (it’s one of my favorite movies – I own it). If you haven’t seen it, the heroine is a writer. There’s a scene at the beginning where someone asks her how her book is coming along and she says:
“Not so well. But, the procrastination of course is coming along fabulously, and soon it will breed abject self loathing and then I’ll just become a writing machine.”
To which her friend replies, “That’s her process.”
So…you may have another step to go before you get the novel finished. 😉
Hi Debbie, it’s a good feeling when the loose strings are all tied up, and your characters have an optimistic future. Even after you type THE END, these characters, so alive in your mind and in the minds of readers, can appear in your next book! -Kathleen
Laura, thanks for the quote from UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN. I love that. The movie was wonderful.
Laura,
Believe it or not, I’ve yet to see that movie. I think that will be the next one for movie night with Daughter… even if only to point and say, “See! It’s not just me!” lol
~Debbie
Kathleen,
Funny you should say that… my second story was born of secondary characters from my first story. The third story was supposed to be secondary characters from the second, but, alas, they’re still waiting for their happily-ever-after. And you’re right, the characters do remain alive in our minds, so they’re never really gone.
~Debbie
Debbie, it’s not unusual for a writer to balk at finishing a story. We get so attached to the characters. It’s wonderful, too, that you fall in love with the story you’re writing. That means you’re doing it right. (Holly Lisle says, “if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right”.) Think I’ll go check out that cover creator thingee since I’m procrastinating, too. FWIW, I love your tag line.
Linda
Umm. Thanks for the link. I think. It’s given me yet another way to procrastinate.
Linda
Linda,
“If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right”. I love that quote. And I did have fun with this story – of course, there were some bumps in the road (lots of them), but in the end, ‘fun’ was what kept me going back for more. And… you like the tag line! Thank you! Now all I have to do is come up with a solid title. sigh
~Debbie
Linda
lol. I’m sorry about the title link, but it IS fun, isn’t it? I hereby give you permission to spend five minutes with it each day for one week and one week only. Five minutes is enough to fill in the blanks, upload a photo and save the image to your desktop. After that… it’s back to work with you, m’dear!
🙂
~Debbie