It is finished...sort of

Tutto e compiuto.  That means "it is finished" in Italian.  I know this because I've had my google translator up almost constantly as I wrote my story, which takes place in medieval Italy.  It has been very handy for finding names, substituting swear words, and lending a bit of European flavor to the dialogue.  But, at last, tutto e compiuto. 

When the idea first struck to do something as crazy and time-consuming as writing a novel, my first course of action was to research literary agents and editors to see if it is even possible for an unpublished person to get anywhere in the "biz."  I was not met with any hope that it could happen.  Apparently, publishing houses don't take unsolicited material and agents don't take clients who have never been published.  Is it just me, or is that the most vicious cycle of hopelessness ever instituted by man? 

So, I thought...maybe I should just write the first chapter and send it in along with a query letter, and see if anyone bites on the concept of what I was wanting to do.  I mean, I don't want to spend all the time it would take to write the WHOLE THING for nothing!  It seemed so insurmountable when I was still struggling to figure out how to even begin.  Like it would take years to write it.  I just couldn't see how I could ever do it without a professional, real life person telling me it was worth doing, and maybe, you know, sending an advance check!  Ha!  Funny!  Naive and funny...in a hopeless kind of way.

But I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and started typing.  Then deleted and started again.  And I kept going.  Before long I had an 8-page chapter one.  It was...ok.  I knew parts of it were weak but I could go back and clean up the messy stuff.  So I kept going.  Chapter two ended and chapter three began.  After two solid days of marathon writing, I had four chapters and my two characters were on a roll.  Well, literally, on a journey.  And I couldn't stop.  The story had to come out.


Literary agents be damned, I was going to finish this story.


A surprisingly short two and a half months later, and a surprisingly long 298 Word doc double-spaced pages later, and......it is finished.


Already my mini HP has been closed for two days and I'm feeling a little lost without my friends, Sal and Fran. But they are big kids now. They have learned the lessons that I created for them.  Lessons about grace, and humility, and forgiveness.  They are now out in the great big world beyond my imagination doing the jobs that God called them to do.


What now?  Well, according to my creative writing "professors," Steven King and Sol Stein, I should let it sit for at least 4 to 6 weeks without looking at it.  That way, when I open it up to do revisions, or as Stein calls it, "triage," which evokes the image of a salpel slicing away big chunks of my story (shudder), I won't be so close to it and I will see the words in a fresh, more unbiased way.  After that I will have a second draft.  Then, I will go through the process again.

And the rest is up to God.


What to do while I wait?  Well, I tried to let my brain take a vacation but it is revolting against the idea and formulating ideas for the next story, against my will and better judgment.  A post-Reformation story.  Circa early 1600's.  There's this girl...she has a choice to make...  Argh!!!  Turn it off, turn it off!!!