Getting closer! I’m actually getting a point with writing this First Draft of Doom where I’m struggling to list scenes that still need to be written. Of course, this could be an unpleasant side effect of writing scenes out of order, but I’ll take it as an encouraging sign! No Debbie Downer here today.

I’m SO CLOSE. And yet so far. That’s the problem with being an aspiring author. You don’t have much to show for all of your efforts until it’s all over. I’ve been writing for years and those closest to me keep asking how it’s going and I feel a little embarrassed to say I’m not done yet. I’m not ashamed, just embarrassed. All of the work I’ve done up to this point has been to learn my craft. Each book is an accomplishment, even if it never sees the light of day. I mean, I’ve written at least four or five complete books at this point of my life, and at least that many partial books in addition to that, but only one of them was edited to the point where I’d be close to sending it out (before I changed my mind and set it aside to start my current project). I have one or two more waiting in the wings to be edited. And then I have this project, which I am about to start shaping into something worth submitting. For the first time since beginning The First Draft of Doom, I actually think it is within the realm of possibility for it to be completed within the next few weeks if I apply myself to the task. It’s not wishful thinking at this point: I’ve written over 80,000 words. I have maybe 8-10,000 more to complete the draft, tops. I can do that in a month. If I skip enough Arrow binge-watching sessions on Netflix. Then the next stage begins: revising. Which is scary. But necessary! No longer will I be able to justify crappy writing with the excuse that I’m just getting words out on the page and will come back and fix it later. Revising IS the later.

I can do this!