How a Book Is Born: The End

So, how’d it go? Did I successfully complete my mission?

Oh, was there any doubt? (Please, no citing the panicky post where I wondered if I could meet the deadline.) I finished the 50,000 word draft of Catch a Falling Star on November 14. I let it rest for a couple of days, and then did a brutal revision before sending it off to the editor.

What did I learn?

1. This is damned hard exhausting work. I need a nap.
2. I get grumpy when I have to write the emotional scenes. I hate crying. But putting them off till later just means I’ll be basketcase when I have to write them all at once. Lesson: Do them when they arrive. No being a weenie.
3. Cutting back on sleep to get more writing in is counter-productive.
4. Having Jessica sit next to me saying, “Aren’t you supposed to be working?” is an amazing motivational technique.
5. I’m never doing this again. Maybe.