The end: Handing over the baton

 

Hello readers! I feel I was over familiar the last time we conversed over the blog format. Maybe I pushed forward too soon and we should retract things back for fear of moving ‘too fast’ in our blogging relationship. Therefore I opted to pull back a bit, take a break.

It has been an interesting couple of months in novel writing world. Although my story is written and I’m not actually writing anything new, I have just finished going through and correcting my poor grammar and any story errors. It was rocky with the laptop issues but I have now completed the edit (thank you again Colleen). So I am starting to build some momentum and get to the final stages. The novel is now with my favourite person in the world (she’s reading this closely so we have to big her up), Lindsey, will give the book one final read and creative edit. She is really lovely, not sure if you have met Lindsey – but you should because she is great. Insert smiley face and all other overzealous emoticons like the two chicks dancing, the clapping hands, the grinning face. And maybe the poo emoji but only because that’s the best one.

The motivation during the final stages is hard to maintain. By that I mean it would be far easier to just send off to the publishers as is. It’s hard to keep striving to make it a worthwhile read as I am now getting impatient: The book is like a shiny new toy wrapped under the Christmas tree that I have weighed and jiggled and felt up – I know what it is but I can’t open it yet. I kind of feel that the story is set but it’s not quite perfect. It’s hard to keep up your motivation to re-read, keep tweaking and stay focused on the end goal which is to make this a good read.

Sometimes I am very easily distracted from the task at hand and I’ve got to the point now that there are no more excuses. I’ve also already got a second idea for another book – so we’ll see how this one goes down before penning the next. I am preparing myself for the flirtation with various publishers. I am filled with the fear of rejection once I start to woo and progress these relationships. Let’s face it, nobody likes rejection and you know it’s a harsh reality of trying to get your work published – even many of the good authors we know and love got rejected many times before a publisher took them on. I am developing thick skin ready for the rejection and hoping that somebody cracks and takes me on!

So as we approach the end of the middle and start to hit the finishing touches, I hand over the baton to Lindsey to take over the final read. Then things will get interesting and finally you all might have a copy of my printed book in your hands to read… And isn’t that exciting… Well, for me it is anyway!


Written by Corina Hawkins, soon to be author of ‘Tattoos of memories’ and creatively bossed by Lindsey Barnett, who is a legend.