It is finally done! Well, sort of. I have finished writing Reintegration! Finally, after years. After starting and scrapping seventeen chapters, putting the book on hold while I learned more about writing, changing and adding parts to the story, having a child and getting married and publishing two other works in between, I am finally done writing it! I say sort of because there is still the editing stage which is just as important as the writing if not more so.
I took a week off work for my parental leave and figured I would get a couple chapters done. In the back of my head I wanted to finish the book because I was getting so close but I figured it would be best to make realistic goals. So two chapters it was, but then I kept writing. It was kind of the feeling I get when I am close to finishing reading a book. It's almost like an extra dose of stamina hits and you can bang it out really quick. I don't know if it was that or just because I was off work and had the extra time to think, create and write. Either way I did it! It feels like a weight off my chest because it had been looming over me for years. This story was bouncing around in my head for so long and I would feel angst when I thought about it being unfinished.
314 pages, 34 chapters and 74, 235 words. This could change with editing and what not, but it feels substantially better than my first extremely short and terrible novel. I feel a sense of pride about this one, whereas I didn't with Malcolm's Symphony. Obviously, quality not quantity is what matters and a lot of the classics are fairly short. So, the length only matters to me because I pieced together a more in depth story with more character and plot development. But boy am I excited.
I am going to take the holidays off and come back to it in January probably. I want to take some time away and then have a fresh pair of eyes when I come back to edit. In the meantime, I am working on outlining and creating my characters for my next novel, Free Dom. That's the working title right now. I have already started writing but stopped because I need to have a plan for where I am going. Back to the whiteboard.
I just recently turned 27 and my plan is to have at least three novels ready to go by the time I'm 30. Possibly, four. I have ideas in my head already, it's just a matter of bringing them to life. Once I have these novels ready, I want to take them to literary agents or publishers and see what I can do with them, if anything. I used to think I didn't want to be published, that I would always self-publish but I'm learning this was out of fear. At least I think so. Fear that I couldn't do it. So I would tell myself I didn't care about being published.
But when I think about it now, I know I want to. For me. I think I used to look at it in the terms of proving myself to other people, that's why it scared me. There was shame, embarrassment and fear mixed up in that. Fear of failure before people. But now, when I look at this for me, I see a challenge and an opportunity. It would be validating not for me to have other people see me get published but for me to know that my writing isn't in vain, that it could actually be worth something. I don't know. I also do want to make my father proud. I think he is already but it would be awesome to be able to tell him I got published and he can get his son's book at the store or possibly the airport. My dad has to travel a lot for work so it's a vision in my head of him walking through the terminal and seeing my book for sale. That would be an awesome moment.
For now though, it is back to the planning and writing. Free Dom!