Finishing a Manuscript aka The Last Mile of a Marathon

It's Writing Wednesday and I'm in the midst of my final round of edits before I send my second contracted book off to my editor at Harlequin. I'm proud to say it's another Harlequin Everlasting Love story.

I've found myself learning to balance. Balance the excitement of the publication of my first book, A Rendezvous to Remember Harlequin Everlasting Love Nov 2007, with the need to focus on this current manuscript.

Not to mention all the wonderful story ideas that keep coming at me, begging to be written up into proposals, which I'm doing.

How do I multi-task as a writer?

I draw from my real life, of course!

I was a runner for years (past tense intentional) and I ran Big Sur Marathon in 1991. Running a race is a great analogy for my writing process.

In the beginning I'm all excited to take on the story that comes to me, to put the amazing characters on the page. It's the same thrill I'd get from filling out a race application, thinking "yeah, I can run that distance by then, no problem."

As the enormity of my task looms before me--will I do the characters justice? Will my reader "get" the story and "feel the love?" Will I be a one, two, three book wonder, never to be heard from again?--I can look at the blank page with dread. On race morning, in the minutes up to the start, I've often thought "what was I thinking? Am I nuts? Look at all these other runners--they're in such better shape than I am!"

Once I'm a few chapters into the book, it's a relief. I'm getting to know the characters better, I'm doing research as needed, it's humming. It's the middle miles of any race. I'm on pace, my breathing in rhythm with my steps. I'm a runner, darn it. I'm a writer, too.

Page by page the story adds up. The miles add up.

Then I get to where I'm at today.

The end is in sight. And my vision for the story has changed, improved. There's nuances and character details I never dreamed of. It's exciting, exhilarating.

It's also darned frightening. Maybe the great story is in my mind, only. Maybe what I put on the page is going to make my editor cringe. I suddenly see all the places I could make the story flow better, make the description and emotion "pop."

But like all good marathoners, I banish any negative thoughts. I stay positive. That's how I've gotten this far. Writing and publishing aren't easy vocations, but they're my vocations and I'm so grateful to be blessed with the duty to put stories on paper.

So I keep editing, adjusting timelines, checking my transitions. Writing Harlequin Everlasting Love is unique in that I'm writing contemporary and historical at the same time. They're the kind of stories I like to read most, and now I get to write them. Fiction with that very real ring of emotion and true events. Yet enough of a love story that I can get lost in it and have hope that love can be and is indeed everlasting.

The last mile of any race is tough. But crossing the finish line, the sense of accomplishment, is always worth it.

What's the race for you? Are you a writer? A lawyer? A stay-at-home Mom? How do you keep the push going through the end of your race?

Thanks for letting me chat with you today!