It's Done! – The Climb #219

Monday 28^th August 2017

There were a couple of major things I wanted to get this Bank Holiday Monday.
The first was to get out and mow the garden. I’d hoped to do it yesterday after coming back from sparring but as always, I returned knackered and didn’t possess the strength to move.
Today was sunny, which caused problems. I had images of me burning like I did at Fightcamp if I went out mid-afternoon and so I put it off to later and later in the day when the sun wouldn’t be so hot. However, I suspected that it wouldn’t get done, that I’d get distracted by something else and then find it dark outside.
However, to my surprise, I did venture out about 5pm and did the deed. I have so much more I need to do in the garden but I figure baby steps is best given that I have some time as …
… I finished the edit!
Yep, the latest draft is done (Version 16.1) and has gone back to the agent. I spent the morning doing some tidy up… mainly getting my chapter headings looking nice. I also reread the first 3 chapters looking for any continuity errors. I found one rogue sentence, and I did tweak a few more things (remembering to tweak it in both the exported Microsoft Word version and my Scrivener file).
But it’s done, it’s been sent, it’s been received.
What happens now? I wait. My agent is on holiday so not expecting to hear anything back for a while. I’ve learnt during previous drafts that thinking you know what happens next is a mistake. I might need to do more edits, or we could start sending it out. No use, worrying about it.
Of course I will. Every time I send off a draft, I worry that this is judgement day… that it’ll go out on submission and we’ll discover just how good (or bad) it really is. That’s when we’ll find out if the last 2 years have been worth it.
In truth, even if the book doesn’t sell, the last 2 years have been worth it just for my growth as a writer. Even in the last few months I’ve seen my skill (particularly in editing) leap massively. There’s a large part of me that wants to write some short stories to see if the skill transfers.
There’s part of me that wants to go over my old books and edit them with my new skills and see what they can become. I want to dive back into book 2 in the series and start working on bringing out the secondary characters, and working on improving the ending of the novel.
Instead, I intend to take the next month off. A mental holiday, if you like, rather than a physical one.
Of course, this didn’t stop my head from thinking about draft 2 of book 2 approximately 30 minutes after sending book 1 off. I’ll collect ideas but save a short story or two, I plan to spend the next month playing games, watching TV and reading.
I celebrated this afternoon by going to the shops and getting wine and ice cream. I’m going to really suffer for both of those tomorrow, but the occasion needed to be marked. It’s worth recognising that I’ve worked bloody hard the last 2 years. Anyone who reads this blog can see the evidence of just the last 219 days. It’s not like I’ve stopped.
But unless anything comes back from the agent, I have September off. Coming 1^st October, I’ll start work on drafting version 2.0 of Book 2 and possibly even plotting out book 3 as well (which exists as a rough synopsis currently).
I think the biggest challenge will be not working in September. I’m going to get bored so quickly!
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.