Repeat After Me: Patience is a Virtue

People who see me every day think I hate to write. That’s because I constantly whine and say things like: “Only two more pages last night. At this rate, I’ll never finish the sucker.” (Only, what I REALLY say involves words less acceptable in polite society.)

Guess I can see why they’d question my attitude.

But here’s the deal: In the beginning, when the characters are fresh and the story’s just starting to blossom, the spontaneous combustion of words and ideas, creatively banging against each other, keeps me energized. I can’t WAIT to birth this thing and show it off to the world! After all, it’s my third effort—and (hopefully) far superior to my first two.

Then, reality sets in. Time passes while I slog through chapters three, four, five, six…surely I must be close to finishing, right? Wrong. All that forward momentum now feels like I’m pedaling backwards on the elliptical.

Last night, I *think* I reached the halfway point. {Shuddering} That means, if it takes me as long to write the second half as it did to write the first, I should be finished by…oh, let’s say…friggin’ August?

Will there even BE a chick lit market by then?

Sigh. I try adapting AA’s motto. One word at a time. One sentence at a time. One paragraph at a time. One scene at a time. One chapter at a time.

And finally, voila. Book.

Meanwhile, I go to work every day and bitch about how long the damn thing is taking.

Yeah, I love to write.