The Long Haul of Writing

Last week was a long one for me. In addition to having a gravely sick dog at the house (he is much better now), I was under deadline for my latest book.

Writing for a living is awesome, but it also involves a lot of late nights, self doubt and long hours of alone time.

But, every time I get caught in one of those moments where you see the towel and are tempted to reach for it, I remind myself that creating things has always been what makes me the happiest and this next book is important to me so I kept on pushing.

Saturday I was sitting in our sunroom with Laura. She was working on homework for school and I was doing a full edit of the manuscript. The kids were not home and yet here we sat on the couch beside each other working away. I suddenly laughed to myself and let slip with a bit of celebration, “I’m done!”

It was one of those moments that catches you off guard in the best possible way. Something I had been toiling away with and fighting against had come to a close. Sure, there is a lot of editing, tweaking and more writing to do once my dear editor gets her hands on it, but this was a major milestone.

I’ve determined that writing a book is similar to hiking a mountain with several peaks. The first one is always the hardest.

You are pushing forward, always looking at the approaching summit. It isn’t easy, but you finally reach it and turn in the manuscript. It is the hardest peak to get to, but it is a psyche out because there are several more littler peaks ahead of you that you must climb before the actual summit of being done.

Celebrating small victories is something I firmly believe in so after e-mailing the manuscript to Wiley,  I poured a little bit of my Macallan 25 into two glasses, we clinked together and smiled.

Writing is a long haul endeavor when done right. It isn’t always fun, but damn do I love it!!

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