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2004-04-01
3:49 p.m.
I am so close to finishing the first draft of my novel that I can smell the end of the rope as it burns ever nearer. I’m so close that I’m looking to where to go next. The first thing I’m going to do, I think, is print out an entirely new, fresh, clean copy so I can put it all into one place. Right now, everything’s in tiny little files, and it’s a veritable disaster of organization because I had to do some on my computer at work and some on my computer at home.
And, of course, one’s a Mac, and one’s a PC.
I can’t imagine something more exciting than the prospect of all my little files put into one big file at long last, with the same formatting on every single page. Finally, then, when someone asks how long my novel is, I can give them a word count. Right now, all I can do is shrug and give them an estimated finger measurement based on the thickness of the binder.
This is very exciting.
Just the other day, I told Rob that we’d have to celebrate when I finish the first draft. I don’t think either of us quite realized how soon that would be. Granted, it’s not quite finished yet, but I’m estimating that I only have about four or five more pages to write. That’s an hour’s work when I’m having a good day. I guess we’ll have to wait and see which day that will turn out to be.
This first draft will be the result of two years’ worth of effort. I realized the other day that I am in such a different place now than I was when I started work on it that it’s really hard to even imagine it was me in both situations. I mean, I was still in Georgia at the time. And truthfully, I was never sure if I ever would really finish it.
But now I know I will.
When I first started, I put a lot of thought into the actual idea and a lot of effort into trying to ascertain whether or not the idea would be enough to keep me interested for a potentially long and drawn out process. Luckily, I did find it interesting enough, and I am only now getting to the good part.
God, I love to revise.
Revision, as Dennie Lehane would say, is where I get to make myself sound smart. I get to take all the ideas that took two years to work themselves out of my head, and I get to put them together into a more closely woven web of rational possibilities and imaginative potentialities. I can’t wait for the end to come. I only hope I’m not getting ahead of myself too much.
I do still have those last few pages to go.
