Screaming into the Virtual Wind

I finished the novel a day later than I’d anticipated; and today I feel like crap and have to maintain the delicate illusion of wide-eyed enthusiasm while negotiating my work day because I laid the last sentence down at 1am and then couldn’t sleep…. but the deed is done, the first draft of Dunraven Road is complete!  Phew.

The reason I couldn’t sleep was because I was already worrying it wasn’t good enough.  Had I used the passive voice too much?  Did my characters’ motivations make sense?  Was this THE ONE?  Can I give up the day job soon and be a full-time writer??!  Then I remembered I had to get up in five hours, told myself to stop worrying because this was only the first draft, panic and sweaty palpitations should be reserved for the edit; and forced myself to sleep.  Ah, the bitter sweet miseries of a would-be author.

I was actually really happy with several scenes that occurred spontaneously, away from my outline (because they’re always the best kind of scenes).  I also loved the way my protagonist changed and stepped up to be a hero… Maybe there’s reason for hope after all!

I’m going to write a little epilogue, a swift glimpse into the future to show how my protagonists fared after the events of the novel; but that’s about it.  Then it’s off to my mum for approval and lots of red pen.  She always gets to see my finished writing first because she’s brutally honest and won’t put up with any overly descriptive, self indulgent crap (which I’m far too fond of).  This basically makes her a godsend and me a very grateful daughter

Incidentally, my mum’s been writing for years and has never been published, but she received an email today that made her scream down the phone at me (disturbing for the first few seconds until I could work out what she was saying).  Apparently, someone at a well known online magazine loved a story she submitted and will be recommending it to his editor, even though it’s not the sort of thing they usually publish.  Yay mum!  Now we just have to wait and see if the editor likes it…

Please can I sleep now?