Jake Bern got married today!
Jake has been a friend of Liz’s for a long, long time now. Almost 10 years, I think. I’ve known him for just about as long, and he’s been together with Brooke for almost that long, too. He’s a very charismatic guy, at home in a crowd of people, charming, good looking, and very, very earnest. It was a pleasure to be at his wedding, and I wish the two of them all the happiness in the world.
It made me think about my own wedding, actually, and how happy I am to be married. Seriously. I love being married to Liz. It is one of the best decision I’ve ever made. I love you bear! I don’t really know how to explain it except to say that there is this power that comes from pledging one’s self to another in front of your own community of family and friends. It’s very…bonding, I guess? It’s rather remarkable. And everyone loves a wedding, you know? They’re fun and they’re happy.
I made the call to email my editors today. I’m sticking with my crazy writing schedule and looking to finish this draft by the end of this week (or thereabouts; more than likely it will spill over a day or two into the following week as well)…but even with that crazy schedule, I just know where this manuscript is at and how much work needs to be done on it. I have no delusions about that; it’s going to be a lot of work, and I just don’t see being able to do all that fixing and polishing in time for my deadline.
It’s the first deadline I’ll be missing as an author. That sucks. I don’t want to do it again. But I also know in my gut that sending a half-assed manuscript to an editor is a waste of money. This is book 2. It has to work. Just as importantly as book 1. Otherwise, nobody finished the story. It’s not worth the effort. And *do* think I have a solid story here. Lots of mystery, adventure, and action. Twists that you don’t see coming.
Tomorrow, however, I’m taking it easy. I made that call last week. Not much work, anyway. I’m 53,000 words into my manuscript. I can add another 24,000 to that this coming week. That’ll put me at 77,000 words…so three days still of writing. Sigh. It is what it is. I’ll finish this draft and then immediately dive into fixing the scenes I know need fixing. I will get to the finish line. I just have to keep plugging away. The angst about that, FINALLY, is started to ebb away.
I’m feeling more confident about my writing, even when I’ve just written a shit scene. My brain has finally kicked in and started chewing on the problems that I know are there, thinking of potential solutions.
I will get there.
I just have to keep writing.
Good night.