The elation of meeting manuscript deadlines
Last September a friend wrote that her husband had brought in a bulldozer to remove a huge clump of bamboo from their garden. It left behind a swimming pool sized hole and the seven year old twins were playing pirates in it.
In my head I saw a plank balanced across it, and the twins 'walking the plank.'
I started a story about them, and sent a chapter a day. It starred the family - Will and Joe, the intrepid pirate lads, Saucy Sal, their mother, and their dad, Richard, became Cap'n Dick.
Every day they begged for the next chapter, and 27 chapters later the wild fantasy adventure story was done.
My publisher liked it, and added it to her list for the year, so it was back to the computer to do the rewrite. She saw it as the first in a series, so I had to make sure that I'd laid the foundations for more stories and created very clear characters with long term motivations.
Rewriting wasn't nearly as much fun. There were no eager little boys hanging on every word. I had to examine the fantasy world from every angle, making sure the ends tied up and that it made 'sense.' I had to cut my 'darlings,' which is always horrible.
But last night the fourth draft was finished. It's gone now, to the editor, translator and illustrator and I won't see it again until the first page proofs.
But what a lovely feeling... to wave it goodbye.
