End of the Year Cram Session

I've done it again.

This time last year I had planned to have my manuscript completed and ready to submit to agents. Luckily, I realized it wasn't ready. And so began another year of working on the book. But I have to be honest, it has been a roller coaster ride and right now, I am on the slow agonizing climb up that second time around. Getting motivated has been a problem. Not because I've lost my love of my characters or that writing has become a passing fancy. Quite the opposite. Life always has a way of creeping in!

I have become an instant gratification person. I want it now. But, as anyone in the writing business can attest... this is not how publishing happens, especially for an unagented, first time novelist in the YA genre where books about the supernatural are a dime a dozen. It moves slowly and patience and determination are a must.

Okay, I am patient. I am determined. I am much more patient than the three and five year olds who I have been blessed to raise, though they appear to have the upper hand on determination. Balancing life and writing is something that has been hard for me. I love my career, as unpaid as it might be. I love my children, as unpaid as being their mom might be. And sometimes, one must suffer for the other. There have been times where the writing has usurped time I would have normally spent with them, but lately, they have taken the reigns and my writing time has turned into wind down time. Hard to get the late night creative juices flowing when all you want to do is climb into bed with a glass of wine and watch mind-numbing movies to escape from the pile of dirty dishes still waiting for you in the sink.

The end of the year is approaching. I have 10 days until we ring in 2011. I have 10 chapters that need edits transcribed, and one last read through to catch all the minor changes that need to be made. I think I can do it. I can at least get the edits in before Christmas. But I hope the new year will bring with it wisdom to find balance in a life that is constantly demanding more and more. I hope the priorities that have been reshuffling themselves finally find a place where everything fits. And I hope that when I look back at 2011, I will be agonizing over edits to book number two while listening to my oldest read to my youngest and my husband snoozing quietly in the recliner. Sometimes the boldest thing to do is let go. So be bold, my friends, and if I haven't said it, Happy Holidays!