1st Draft Done - What Next?!?

I wrote the first draft of my book in 15 days however it took me over two years of it "composting" in my head and two weeks of doing the outlines on Scapple before I started the writing.  I know this isn't how others work however frankly, when I started, I thought it would be fun to write a murder mystery since I have the draft of one "self help" and one "auto-biography" both in the final stages I have spent years writing!  So for me, a murder mystery just sounded like a walk in the park!  In some ways it was!  By the way, I didn't finish the autobiography yet since I am not even close to dead! lol! As for the self help, I decided I wasn't a good enough expert to write such a book!

Again, I digress.  Looks like one of those days where the coffee hasn't kicked in, or perhaps it has too much!  Either way, back to the concept of what to do after the first draft.

As I stated in another blog, this entire writing process is like going on a walk-about.  I am just walking through my life allowing what I need to come to me.  In this case, I needed an editor who didn't charge since I am not the flushes person at the moment!

I was just stopping in at Blue Stone Magic, a local New Age speciality store to have a chat with whoever was behind the counter that day, and so I began a conversation with someone who happens to have also written a book and who also happens to have taken a course on creating books on demand.  So that was a helpful talk.  Then this woman walked in and started to browse.  She looked familiar.  You know how it is, your sure but your not sure and you don't want to say something in case your wrong and don't know who the person it, but you say what the hell and jump in with both feet!  Ok, you may not, but I am so used to embarrassing myself, I hardly care anymore!  One of the perks of being someone with weak boundaries! lol!  I might add by the way, one of the best attitudes to have if you want to chat with people and hear their stories!  I have, over the years, collected a good many stories because I like people and hearing about them. Again, I digress!

Anyhow, I started a conversation such as "Do I know you from somewhere and that always leads to trying to remember where.  In this case once I heard her name, then I DID remember which is so much easier than pretending to! lol!

As it turns out she was a retired librarian and now  a healer and SHE OFFERED to edit my manuscript.  She warned me it would be thorough, however I can't think of anyone who has read more books!  So I printed off a copy, put dividers between chapters and added a questionnaire at the end with questions like "when did you figure out who did it?  Did you like the protagonist?  Did she seem real enough?  You know the sort of thing any writer would be curious about!

So she has had it a little over a month or two.  I lost track.  She got sick and so on.  What was really nice was when she wrote to say she would be getting back to Martha.  Oddly enough I thought it was nice she remembered my protagonist's name!  Made me see how it is important to remember names at work and so on.  I had one boss who was very upset when I called her Edna and not Alma.  Now I can see why! lol

She emailed recently and said she was done and we can meet which now will only be TWO DAYS!  I must admit, I am blissfully excited even though she will likely tear it apart! lol!  Fortunately, like embarrassment, I am also good at both criticism and rejection!  But hell, I went into this venture wondering if it was even worth editing and was surprised she hadn't handed it back to me laughing her head off!  So typical of a true artist, any response is a good one!

Now the curiosity is getting to me.  I am also excited to getting out to the coffee shop with someone. I have been a recluse since it got cold basically hanging out with my teenage son and his friends.  I leave the house to go to work and then home. I am used to living in isolated places so I have a freezer full of food but I suppose everyone likely does that in winter since around here, the odds of seeing someone walking down the street who doesn't have a dog is pretty small unless it is kids walking to school!

As we tell our children at Christmas, just two more sleeps and I get my manuscript back.  Then the real work begins!
Even without another's comments, I have kept my tape recorder close and have a zillion things I want to change and edit anyhow!.  The joys of growing with your writing when you haven't done anything for a while.  If you do it daily like I hear your supposed to if your a serious writer then I doubt it would be so intense however I haven't been serious about anything since 1998 when my son was born! lol

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