The Plaid Pladd

You know I’m writing a book, right? Well, four. I wrote them all the way through, and it took about two years. That seems like a short amount of time to write four books, I guess, but I’ve kind of been working on this story since I was 14, so I’ve had a lot of practice. Not that anything from back then is usable, for anything besides laughing sadly at how I thought the world worked, and the way I confused “lose” and “loose” constantly. Pretty much the only similarity between then and now is that a few of the characters have the same names.

Anyway, yesterday I finished Draft 2 of Book 1. Which, to me, is a bigger accomplishment than finishing any of them in the first place. First drafts are easy. I’ve been writing first drafts for twelve years. This is the first time I’ve ever written a second draft, though, so it feels like a big deal. It’s not like I’m done. I’m combing it over again, mostly for language this time, and then sending it off to different people for criticism (YOU??), and who knows what changes that will bring? And then there are three others that get the same treatment. But still. I finished a second draft. I didn’t get bored and frustrated and wander away to start something new. Not that I begrudge past-Patricia for doing that. None of those books she wrote were worth a Draft 2, and maybe she knew it. This one seems to be, though, so I’m happy. I know there’s still a long way to go, but I climbed a mountain I never thought I would so:

The hardest part was the beginning, of course. I know how important first sentences are, and it took me forever to write this one. Maybe a month, I’m not joking:

The day this started, I was eating kettle corn and watching a volcano.

Maybe it’ll make it to the end, I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like this process is some kind of ruthless contest where each sentence has to JUSTIFY ITS EXISTENCE and BE ALL IT CAN BE or risk being deleted forever. Sometimes I imagine them crying as I backspace through them.

Critical Hit! A sentence can’t survive without its verb

I don’t even care that I sound like a crazy person, I finished a second draft alright and that’s all that matters. Draft 2 is 224 pages, at least the way I like to write, with 1.5 spacing (I checked just for you, and it’s 290 double-spaced). Hit me up if you’re interested in reading them for beta review. Some of you will not have a choice and it will just ~appear in your mailbox as if by magic~ because that’s how I roll.