The Second Draft

I was desperate to finish the 2nd draft of my novel before our honeymoon this May.

It’s a honeymoon so delayed that we’ll be celebrating our 1^st year anniversary while we’re away.

We’re going on a road trip through Italy and I can’t wait.

I actually wrote a blog before this one but it was a gloomy read.

At the time I had 5 chapters left to edit and I was grinding my teeth and staring out of the window dreaming of escape.

Not even my word count, a glorious 103, 660 words, could excite me.

The sludge of sentences blurred before me as I consumed an ocean of tea and coffee, and the occasional multi-vitamin which rather than boost my energy left me wanting.

If only we remembered during our darkest moods that the feeling can’t last forever!

A few hours later I was feeling much more positive and the blog post I’d written was made redundant.

It felt strange to finish the 2^nd Draft. It feels significant.

At 308 pages, it’s my longest piece of work.

Each time I finish a stage I gain a slightly deeper understanding of what I’m trying to do.

My husband gave me the beautiful quill in the picture when I told him I’d completed the challenge.

I won’t be writing the 3^rd Draft with it but I'll definitely be writing a dedication to him in a published copy one day; without his support I’d still be a long way off.

Next step?

We wait...

Distance from the novel will be useful.

For three weeks I’ll try to forget about what I’ve written.

With a bit of luck, when I come back, I’ll find it has matured in my absence and is far better than I thought it was.

But much more likely, I’ll be embarking on a fresh draft with renewed energy.

The funny thing is I already miss working on it.

WRITING TO MUSIC

It's been really interesting to discover that I'm not the only writer who listens to a song on repeat when they write. I only do it when I'm stuck and unmotivated. Below are two of the songs that got me through the last 5 chapters! They're both in Spanish and I think you'll probably either love them or hate them! Post your music choices!