A Novel Beginning: Week 18

We’ve finally reached the end.  These were the last journal entries during the last week I spent working on my book before finally completing it and printing it out for review.  It was during the Christmas holiday when so many other things were going on between Christmas shopping, baking, gift wrapping, having the kids home from school and visiting with family.  I’m now shaking my head in wonder at how I was able to even make the time to write.   

Week 18

Thursday:

Christmas is right around the corner and I have been very busy the past few days with gift shopping and cookie baking but also with writing.  I am trying to tie up some loose ends in my story so that I can print it out and begin the editing process.  My other goal is to have a copy boxed and wrapped so that I can give it to my husband for Christmas.  He has been asking for it and I have told little white lies so that he believes I’m not quite ready to print.  I want him to be surprised and in order to do that, I have to let him believe I haven’t had much time to write.  I have two more days to finish with some additions and get the ending put together.  I am anxious but also excited about how my husband will react when he opens the box to see what I have given to him.  I know how proud he is of me already but I can’t wait for him to be able to hold my first draft in his hands.     

Saturday:

I’ve secretly been working on my book, or at least I believe it has been in secret.  Whenever my husband has come up to my office to check on what I’m up to, I quickly switch the screen to Facebook or another website so that he’ll believe I’m just playing around and not working.  I don’t know if I’m fooling him or not.  If I am fooling him, I do feel bad but I really want to surprise him.  I have finally finished with the ending, as far as I’m going to get right now anyway.  I will have to add to the ending once I complete my first edit but right now it’s good enough to give to my husband so he can begin reading it.  I’ve been wrapping presents today and while I’ve been wrapping I’ve also been printing.  It’s a demanding job for my printer and it took quite a long time to print out all 366 pages.  It has struck me again, now that I’m seeing the book in print, exactly what it is I have accomplished.  I have spent the past four months working on this book and I’ve managed to put together a 366 page, 102,132 word document!  It’s incredible.  The book is finally printed, I’ve hole-punched all 366 pages and I’ve put them in a binder with a cover I put together.  Now, it’s time to put the book in a box, wrap it up and offer it up for scrutiny. 

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I gave my husband the neatly wrapped package after all other gifts had been opened Christmas morning.  I believe he was hoping to receive it but was pleasantly surprised because he wasn’t sure if I had been able to complete it during the busy holiday week.  It was also during this time that I showed the book to family who came to our house for Christmas dinner (but they weren’t allowed to read it) and when I made it known to the rest of my family that I had finally completed the book.  I had already made the decision to begin working on my platform once the book was ready for editing so on New Year’s Eve I built my Blog and published my first blog post, When Dreams Wake You Up.  Once the Blog was up and running, there was no turning back.  I informed family and friends and colleagues about my Blog, my book and my hopes for the future.  I was terrified of the response I would get from everyone.  But once again, there was a quote to help me push forward when I worried too much about how others would respond…

“Until you’re ready to look foolish, you’ll never have the possibility of being great.”  By:  Cher

The response I received from family, friends and colleagues was both encouraging and motivating.  The response to my future goals and to my first blog post was amazing.  There was only one response that caught me off guard, when a colleague responded to my news with the question…

“Why do you want to write?”

Well…you’d think that would be an easy question to answer.  But responding with the statement, “Because I love to write” just didn’t seem good enough.  Why indeed?  He knew I wasn’t yet making money with writing so of course, it wasn’t about a paycheck.  He knew I was running a business and had family and other obligations so that my time was limited. 

His question seriously made me think.  It did not make me question my reasons for writing but it made me wonder how to respond to any critic who viewed writing as more of a hobby.  Right now, the inner child in me just wants to respond by saying…

“Because I want to, that’s why.”

Writing can be a lonely business but living out your dreams is a wonderful thing when you have an unlimited amount of support.

I am thankful to have that support, of which I should not have expected anything less.