Tuesday, June 24, 2014

My Summer Plans

I told you I'm growing out my hair, but the truth is I've set an even loftier goal for this summer: to finish the first draft of my book. In the last few weeks, I've also been writing about my experiences for a couple of other blogs, which I hope to do more of going forward. For now, you can find those posts here and here.

As for the book, my agent and I are buckling down. I've drafted my proposal, my bio, my intro to potential publishers, and maybe 2/3 of the actual book itself. It is a ROUGH 2/3, to be sure, but it is written. I've just Got. To. Finish. This. Thing.

I'm feeling very inspired. A couple of weeks ago I finished reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed and almost immediately started at the beginning again. Reading this book feels somewhat like the trajectory I've had writing my own; it took me a half-dozen starts and stops over the last couple of years to get past the first chapter, but once I got into the meat of it, I could hardly think of anything else. (If you haven't read Wild, I highly recommend it.)


And so it is with this project of mine. I can hardly think of anything else lately. Maybe my book won't get read, but maybe it will. Maybe it will help one person. Maybe a few dozen. Maybe my story will resonate and reverberate and be made into a movie starring Natalie Portman (Chris likes her and she's willing to go bald). No matter what happens, I feel compelled to get my story out in the world, to fill in the many blanks that weren't quite right for blog posts or Facebook status updates over the last three years. 

Some people say writing a book is like giving birth. If that's the case, I'm feeling a strong urge to push right now. My guess is there will be a lot more work than I can even imagine possible, but my hope is that I'll have something incredible to show for it when I'm done. I can't wait to share that with you guys. 

If I'm spotty here over the summer, it's because I'm pouring my creative efforts into birthing this book. With no changes in my health (hallelujah), I've been kind of feeling like I am just updating you on life raising a toddler anyway, and there are plenty of blogs for that. I will update here when I can, or if anything changes, or if Quinn does something particularly adorable. Probably when I finish walking 39.3 miles next month. Certainly when I have my next scan in August. And absolutely when I hand over my manuscript to my agent to see if he can find it a home. 

3 comments:

  1. Very exciting! I need to get going on finishing mine too. Can't wait to read yours! And thanks for the book recommendation.

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    1. You're very welcome -- just a warning, though, the first chapter is rough. I kept putting it down to cry my eyes out the first few times I tried to get through it. It's worth it, but it may stir up some uncomfortable emotions. If you do read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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  2. Thanks for the encouragement! And the link to the vaccine studies -- very exciting developments!

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