Monday, June 27, 2011

Un-Finishing

So there is this one detail of WriMos that is just a little pesky... You know what it is?

I'm THIS close!
I'm THIS close!  I have TECHNICALLY met my WriMo goal (night before last I hit 50,198 and am now just 2 words shy of 52k), but the book isn't done... Oh, I see the end from here, but it isn't say... a nice 2000 words off. I have finally reached the 'flow' again—I do that at the end, but it is a weird feeling to have one goal met and the other not... it's like... this momentum drain. I want to want to rush and scurry, but at the same time, I am... you know... done...

How is that, that you can be done and not done? I've had a few other examples in life, but most of them are surprises:



Master's Thesis

I wrote and defended my master's thesis... turned it in... got a grade... and then I had to make a few freaking CHANGES! Really hard when you know you've ALREADY gotten an A to address changes before they allow you to be DONE. Isn't an A done?



Professional Manuscripts

Man, if these aren't an exercise in 'holy crap, you mean I'm not done yet' this is it... and I refer here to BOTH the scientific manuscripts I do professionally and the fiction manuscripts I do... erm... professionally.... But this is more about LONG TERM PROCESS.


So what the Heck do I do about this thing with the first drafts? I mean all the hiccups to DONE... okay FINE... but I just am not sure what to do with hiccups on the way to first draft... It's not the beginning of the end... that's the trouble... it's the end of the beginning, and it is supposed to go... erm... over the cliff all at once... or something...

Ah, well... Hopefully it will be DONE DONE, by the end of the month, and in the MEANTIME, I've gotten back to typing up my Garden Cozy that I begin editing on July 1, if not sooner... (best to have it in word before the edit... process just goes more smoothly.


In the MEANTIME... some NEWS to share:


My good buddy Stacy had her third novella accepted for publication... gads, I am 10 days out now, because I am bad that way, but it is with Carina Press at Harlequin, which for a romance author, is having the mother ship call her home! Congratulations, Stace!!! She blogged about it here.

And I have set my Harry Dolan Schedule!!!

You know how I'm a Harry Dolan freak, yes? Freaky groupee annallat... I managed to get an ARC for his second book, Very Bad Men, and will post my review July 6th , (one day before it's out) and then will post an interview with Harry July 16th. (the day before his Ann Arbor Nicola's reading... Nicola's is our last remaining Indie Book Store and I am going with my boss, as she gave me his first book—I wanted it anyway, but you know how broke I always am)



I hope you all have a great week!

24 comments:

Trisha said...

Congrats on meeting at least the main goal, which was the 50k I imagine? :D I am not quite there yet, but WILL BE very shortly. hehe

Unknown said...

Why am I not surprised that you are done-not done...LOL! Well I am almost done with the 50000 but my book is far from done! Probably it is about half done :)

Old Kitty said...

I say you are one NAKED step closer - and that's what matters!! Yay!! Take care
x

Jessica Bell said...

You are so close, you can do it! Just strip everything off and freeball to let it all hang out ... um, well, how about freeboob? ;o)

Matthew MacNish said...

I hear you about being done not done. I don't know if I'll ever be done with this novel.

Creepy Query Girl said...

wow, lots going on with you! Congrats to stacy and I look forward to Harry's interview!

M.J. Fifield said...

I'm always done yet not done when it comes to my NaNoWriMo projects.

Congratulations on your Master's thesis. That's terrific news!

Hart Johnson said...

Trish--yup--that 50K was the one passed... I edited that in because it's a key point!

Siv-yeah...50K really is just on the short side for most books... There is some YA that short, but even there most of it is at least 60K.

Jenny-teehee--Exactly!

Jessica--YES! I will freeboob it! That is a perfect solution!

Matthew--Yeah--on the EDITING rounds it never seems done, does it? I've often not been satisfied with the ending until a rewrite.

Katie-Yeah, no leeway to sit around! I will pass on your congrats!

Hart Johnson said...

MJ-Ah! Not alone, so that's good! Thank you!

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Oh Hart...you are so busy. I'm gonna check out that book though simply because the cover is awesome. Your recommendation, however, did not go un-noted.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Congrats on all you've accomplished! You've done a ton of writing.

I never really feel *done*--even when I've handed the thing in (I'm famous for my last-minute emails to the editor: "Can you read this version instead?"

Stephanie Faris said...

I'm seeing that once you're pubilished, it never really ends, I've found. You finish the first draft, revise. Send it to your agent, revise more. Maybe even revise a few more times (as I had to do on the most recent one). I'm not published yet, but I know once it gets to an editor who is interested, more rounds of revisions will be necessary and even then, probably a few more revisions before it gets to publication. Stephen King said it best when he wrote about usually being sick of his novels before they reached bookshelves, he'd gone over them so many times!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Well good for you, Hart, and congratulations on meeting your goal, even if you still have more to do.

You sure are a hardworking lady!

Have a great week,

Kathy M.

Colene Murphy said...

Well hey, you accomplished great and wonderful things done done or not!! So congrats! And congrats on your ARC! Yeay!!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Push on, Hart! You are so close.

Sarah Ahiers said...

i don't think i'm going to hit 50k. I'm at 32K right now and will probably put in another 10K before the end. Ah well, i mean, it's going to take probably another 50K to finish the story, so i knew i'd be working through july as well

Carol Kilgore said...

I think all writers have to deal with that 'almost done' feeling. It's hard, but keep going. Great news about the Harry Dolan ARC :)

Hart Johnson said...

Michael, it IS a great cover, isn't it?

Elizabeth-teehee I can totally picture you with the refreshed versions.

Stephanie-that is SO TRUE with all the iterations! I generally do three drafts on my own, two rounds with peers, then agent, then editor. My one 'in press' is currently with copy editors...

Thank you, Kathy!

Thank you and thank you Colene!

Alex-Oh, I will. If i have a strength, it is perseverence...

Sarah-42K is still a darned good month!

Carol-I think you're right. And Thank you!

Talli Roland said...

Gosh, you've been busy, haven't you? I'm impressed with the 50k you've done!

Johanna Garth said...

Congrats to Stacy, can't wait to read the Harry Dolan review and you, my dear, are crazy! Did you really go back and revise your thesis after you finished and got an A! No words but am very impressed!!

Vicki Tremper said...

Way to go on the goal! Don't worry about finishing - that can be July's goal. Totally awesome. I need a little of that to rub off on me. I have a deadline to make something query ready, but another project has to be finished first. And I just need to get it done. And now I need to go make dinner for 3 little boys.

(So glad to be able to comment again.)

Hart Johnson said...

Talli-I actually LOVE having an excuse to write like a fiend and neglect my housework. Did I mention that?

Johanna--PSU 'publishes' all theses and dissertations and keeps them on file, but only if you make the corrections. They were stupid formatting things, mostly. something I've come to learn just goes with publishing.

Vicki-Oh, I wish July had the TIME! I have two rewrites slated for July and August.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

You are a writing machine. Have a great week too.

Stacy Gail said...

Man, I can't believe how much writing you've gotten done in such a short time span. You're a rockstar! *fangirl squee*

Thanks for the shout-out! :D