Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I finally did it. I completed my first full revision yesterday and it feels great. It’s like returning to your favorite tavern—realizing how much you missed and enjoyed it. When I first wrote this novel, it was without a thought to fix, promote or possibly publish it. The discipline to write without worrying about editing is what drove the story. I can honestly say it wrote itself. Sometimes I felt like my fingers struggled to keep up with the intertwining characters and plot as I pounded away at the keys trying to make that 30 day deadline of 50,000 words. That was the main goal.

Now after sitting down with my novel again, reintroducing myself to the characters and experiencing the story after a lapse of time, it made me realize the dream could become reality. At times, I even reread lines asking myself, “Did I really write that?”! And then there were sentences I read and asked myself, “Were you drinking when you wrote that?” Overall, I’m proud of the characters and story I created, which isn’t something I normally say when it comes to my writing. I’m critical of the words I link together, along with being critical of other writers. Not so critical of the grammatical errors as I am of the character and plot—texture and flavor of a story.

But I arrived to the point in my novel where I sighed with satisfaction—an unplanned journey that I hope in time many will read—where everybody knows my name.