On Monday afternoon I typed the words “The End” on the first draft of Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort. The denouement came with little fanfare. I was sitting on the sofa drinking a glass of water when I realized the book’s ending had been written for several days—it was just buried in the middle of a bunch of other stuff. I grabbed my laptop, searched for a specific phrase, and voila!
Not for the first time did I thank the powers that be for word processing programs. A bit of copy, a smidge of pasting, and a big fat dollop of deletion, and I had something that closely resembled a book. Well, the roughest, rawest version of a book. If I were laying it out in cooking terms I’d say that the ingredients are all there and they’ve been mixed into a batter, but before it’s ready for consumption it’ll need to be baked and frosted. Sprinkles are optional.
I gathered all my gumption and sent the batter, er manuscript off to trusted beta readers. That’s such a scary feeling. One would think it would be easier now that I’ve published two books, but it’s not. I’ll be a mess until I hear something from my readers.
Now what? Well, while I’m waiting to revise Wedding, I have a sequel to The Cowboy and the Executive running around in my head, and I’m almost certain there will be at least one more story in the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort chronicles. It’s a scary thing, this creation of characters. They take on lives of their own and they depend on me to tell their tales. I wonder if I’d have even begun writing if I’d known how that worked. Deep thoughts for a Monday evening. I believe I’ll have some wine.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
Well done 🙂
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Thanks! In some ways the end is merely the beginning. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears ahead.
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I hope you take some time to celebrate! It is always a huge thing to hit that point. Congratulations!
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I celebrated today by packing for our trip to Illinois. I’m not going to pick up my laptop until I get home!
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Hope you have a great visit!
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Thank you!
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Great stuff Leslie. they do indeed have lives of their own and my god they take over yours if you don’t let them have it their way too.
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They sure do! One of my romance characters just wormed her way into my Mayhem sequel! Cheeky broad.
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Honey I ain’t even starting re the TIme Mutants and Vikings in OR NOT Regency London. They do become people and yeah we do more than hear them xxxxxxx ( Braw fun as we say here. xxx)
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I feel a responsibility toward them. Must not let them down or let them sit idle too long.
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It might just mean you are a sane writer, have a good one Leslie!
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Thank you for the vote of confidence!
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You will continue to get that, hope all’s going great with the sales!
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Sales are ok. I’m going to have to do some advertising though. Ugh.
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Go right ahead and drop me an email if you need help!
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I might do that! The idea of advertising is daunting, but I think maybe I’ve reached my limits with word of mouth recommendations.
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I’m pretty sure if we still had to rely on typewriters I’d have gone into a different profession.
P.S. Now I’m hungry for cake.
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Ha!!
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Proud of you for just doing it, Leslie. I liked your Simpson’s graphic at the end. Could be both! Here’s an article you might enjoy about seeing images (imagination) and hearing voices – or not! https://austinkleon.com/2021/06/10/when-the-minds-eye-is-blind/
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It very nice
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