For me, writing a first draft is often the most magical part of creating a novel. When I am that deeply invested in a story, so immersed in it that I almost eat, drink and breathe it, there is no describing the feeling. Like I am watching a movie reel and simply noting what I see, I sit back and type as events unfold before my eyes. Surprises happen. Plots twists come out of nowhere. Sometimes everything I had originally planned for a story takes a turn in the opposite direction.
That's the real enchantment of writing . Then--there comes the hard work. By hard work I mean re-writes and revisions.
Revisions are difficult enough. They often involve some re-writing, editing, cutting, expanding, pretty much anything you can think of that would twist your story around in the direction your editor finds necessary. But your original vision was there in its truest form.
Re-writes, however, are another beast entirely. They are brand new first drafts. They are taking the 5% of your previous first draft that actually worked and creating something the same yet entirely new. In other words, they involve the same investment as the original first draft if not more so, because now you have to make sure certain things are different no matter where you planned the story to go.
Last November, I finished the first draft of Covenant. Months later, I was told I needed to re-think the general direction of my story. This month, I delivered a new story as promised.
Now I wait.
If all goes well, Covenant will enter into the revision stage sometime later this winter. I can only keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, like all authors do.
This is a common plight for writers. When our publishers say jump, we must often reply, "How high?" But that isn't really a bad thing in the long run.
It's just teaching us that we can always jump higher than we originally thought.
So I jumped higher with this version of Book 2. We're getting there, so I thank from the bottom of my heart every fan and interested reader for their patience. Hopefully by this spring, Covenant will be solidly on its way to production. Just one more moment yet--and my, how time flies . . .
