I had a realization this morning: the first draft of this book is almost done. My goal is to finish it by June 20th, but honestly I think I can finish it this weekend.
This is a long time coming. I started it at the beginning of 2019, only to realize I was stuck partway through the year. I picked it up again during NaNoWrimo and after precisely 2 days of flailing at the 45kish that was already there, I spent the rest of the month creating a completely redone outline and about 60ish pages of prewriting.
The book itself doesn’t have a honed pitch yet – it’s basically a queer 3 Musketeers meets Wonder-woman. With monsters coming through mirrors. I certainly don’t have a good title either – my working title is Musketeer (though my friend immediately fired off several better ones: Musketqueer. Musket Mirrors. And more. Clearly, I’m just bad at titles).
It’s hard to articulate exactly why this is so exciting, but I think there’s two big reasons. One simple reason is that it’s finishing something new. Ever since I finished the final revision to Stars of Steel and Iron YEARS ago, I haven’t actually finished something new. I’ve started several books, but wound up dead-ending (or, in some cases, getting sucked back into a last minute revision of Stars of Steel and Iron). It’s exciting! It’s a reminder that yes, I can do this.
The second reason though is that… for the first time in awhile I’ve got people actively excited about my stuff! Stars of Steel and Iron was in the works long before I was on Twitter, and long before I knew a lot of my current writer friends. Now I’ve had multiple people ask about what I’m working on and have offered to beta it when it is done.
Suddenly, I’m not just excited to finish a story for me, I’m excited to have something to share with them! I can’t wait to see if they like it as much as I do. And, obviously, they’ll be looking for the warts, but it’s just so exciting to realize how many people are in my corner, and I’m grateful for all of them.
Lastly, I’ve been making one other circuit of the query rounds with Stars of Steel and Iron. I’ll be honest, I’m about at the point of shelving it for the time being. But several of the latest round of query rejections have come back, including the nicest rejection I’ve received that said my writing was “damn good.” (I needed that when it came in; you know who you are). And they want to see my next book!
And I’m excited because I actually have a next book to show them! The goal is to have the revision done before the baby in August (no pressure); my beta readers can take a look see while I’m adjusting to a brand new life. And then I’ll revise it by the end of the year based on their feedback.
Ultimately, I want to be a working author. That means at least a book a year. And while yes, this book languished under a false start, I also had a few months without writing at all. It comes out in the wash, but if I can finish these revisions it feels like for the first time not only can I write books, but I can write them at the pace required for an actual publishing career. And that is EXCITING.
So? I’ve got a book almost done. And I can’t wait to get it to my friends and see what they say. And it’ll be exciting to hit the query trenches with something fresh.
Cheers all. Be kind to yourselves.
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