You sit back in your chair, close your eyes and take a deep, cleansing breath.
....
......
..........
You open your eyes back up. Everything on the screen is a little blurry. Your brain hurts from the tens of thousands of words you've just finished squeegee-ing out of it. You can barely remember your family member's names, or what day it is.
Now what?
Never fear... KRISTA'S TWELVE STEP PROGRAM is here!
1.) Push Save.
2.) Close your document.
3.) Run around the house, dancing with joy.
4.) Eat some celebratory chocolate
5.) Make you hubby (or wife, or parent, or significant other, or your own wallet) take you out to dinner.
6.) Tweet your fun news!
7.) Play on Facebook, catch up with what all your friends are up to while you've had your mind on your book and characters.
8.) Actually make your family dinner instead of the endless nights of frozen/takeout meals they've had.
9.) Sleep. A lot.
10.) Go to the store and stock up on chocolate and your choice of caffeine pleasure.
11.) After at least a week but up to a month, open your manuscript back up.
12.) EDIT. (And when you're done... lather, rinse, and repeat steps 1 through 12!)
Discussion: What do YOU do when you finish a novel? If you haven't reached this point... it's dream time!!
*************************************************
Krista
is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and a contemporary romance
author. She recognizes that life can be frustrating and just plain not
fun sometimes, but believes that laughter and smiles can make the
not-so-fun a little better! She blogs about the amazing things God has
been doing and her journey as a busy momma of 4 and caregiver to a
daughter with a rare congenital heart defect at
http://reflectionsbykrista.blogspot.com. She is also a contributor at
www.wordservewatercooler.com. She is represented by the fab agent,
Rachelle Gardner, and her debut novel, Sandwich, With a Side of Romance, releases in September 2012.
9 comments:
FUN post. The one time I did finish a book-length MS, I did MOST of that :)
Krista--I like the way you think! :) I'm hoping to write those two wonderful words by the end of this month for the very first time. I like the idea of having my hubby take me out to dinner. Of course, chocolate is always nice too. :) You've given me good food for thought.
What did you do when you wrote "The End" the first time?
I like that list! ;-) And fully deserved for all the hard work you have done! What I have been doing when I have finished an MS or editing goal is have a little reward, even if it's just an ebook or a song download I want, it makes for something to work for. ;)
JOanne... good for you!!!
Jeanne... I slept. For a LONG time. Then did most of the things on my list! I also did a few things I shouldn't have done... which will be covered in my NEXT post in two weeks:-)
Casey... rewards are good!!!!!
Oh, yes, it is dream time. Only about a month to go for me. My husband made me promise to write something new for 3 months before I go back to it. Definitely will be going out for dinner though and some chocolate.
I'm personally a fan of dinner, chocolate and sleep. In that order. :) Fun post, Krista!
I plan to immediately e-mail the entire book to every agent and publisher I know.
Gotcha! lol, I imagine any said agents/publishers reading that just ground their teeth to stubs. Seriously, I can't wait for that day! I think I'll get in the car, turn up my favorite music and just drive with a stupid grin on my face.
raesrantsrave.blogspot.com
I walk away from the computer.
I stop being a writer ... no edits. No "what if I rewrote this? Or that? Or ... maybe all of it?"
I celebrate with my husband and family. Catch up on laundry.
I kick back. Nap. Go out to lunch with my much-ignored friends.
And then, after a few weeks, I get back at it.
Hey! I did that this week!
No chocolate [unless a couple mini York patties left from Christmas count] but sleep a lot this week [thank you sinus infection!] and put it away [we did have pizza brought in tonight...]
Now, I'm doing something fun!
I'm working on the MS I really want to write! It's book 3 in a series where I'm pitching book 1 right now. But I don't feel like writing book two. And I'm not contracted. So I can play with book 3 ;).
And I'm having a blast with it :D.
I know that the blast will end. And reality will catch up to me and I'll have to start edits [oy. those are gonna be FUN :p], but for now...
I play!
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