Since I posted Reblog – The Road to Authorship last week, I thought it fitting to have today’s reblog backtrack almost exactly 6 months to this very day. What could have been happening at that point in time? Yep, you’ve probably figured it out from the blatantly clear title . . . my first draft manuscript for Playground Instruction for the Growing Adult was officially completed at this point. Of course, “draft” is the operative word here. I still had a ways to go before seeing my book self-published on Amazon’s virtual bookshelves, but it was the end to the beginning. Anyway, I just thought I’d share or re-share what was going on through my mind, which landed onto this blog on May 6, 2019.
What a wonderful day in the neighborhood. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the adrenaline is pumping and keeping me going after getting only 3.5 hours of sleep. (Unfortunately, I’m getting way too comfortable with the lack of sleep these days). It’s for a good reason, though. I look at it this way: some of the opportunity cost of getting my manuscript completed has been the sacrifice of some shut eye. But that’s okay; because all I can say for now is “I’M DONE!” My manuscript is finished! Well, I guess I should say that my first draft manuscript is finished; it’s not the final version by any means. I would even venture to say that it would probably be considered raw in nature.
No draft editing or proofing has been done yet (except by yours truly). I’m constantly changing wording and arrangement and fixing typos and grammar every time I read through my manuscript. And undoubtedly, I’m sure I’ll continue to tweak things up until the day and time I take the big leap to actually publish my work. Then, I may still need to fix some things after that. Hopefully, not. I’m definitely planning on having several pairs of fresh eyes closely examine my draft, because I’ve been looking at it way too much… so much so that I’m afraid I might start seeing things that aren’t there or overlook things that are. Needless to say, others’ perspectives of my work will be totally welcomed.
I want to take this moment to apologize for the delay in getting you this update. I’ve been trying to deliver my writing summaries to you on Sunday mornings, but I literally just finished the last section of my manuscript at around 7:45 am CST this morning and ended up with a 15,381 word count. My actual goal was 15,000 words, so I’m right there. But, I know for a fact that the word count will change. I’m just saying. Another goal (I almost met) was the day in which I finished my manuscript. Initially, I had determined that I would have it done by the end of last week, or by May 4th; but a couple of days later isn’t going to make or break anything. So overall, I’m pleased with the timing of my progress and I have pretty much accomplished what I’ve set out to do thus far.
Now, it’s time to determine a whole new set of goals to meet since I’ve exited off of Authorship Road A and made my way onto Authorship Road B, according to the road map I laid out for you in last week’s post, entitled Writing Momentum (Part One). I think I’ll put a pause on cranking out any additional goals for now and come back with my new itinerary in a few weeks. Right now, I’m just taking in all of my emotions. I’m excited yet humbled, refreshed yet exhausted, and overall in awe that I just finished the crux of my first book journey. I also feel that I’m just pouring out (in words) what I’m internally experiencing at the moment and it’s getting into the “rambling on” territory. So, I’m going to end this discourse fairly soon. I promise.
In last week’s post, I mentioned that I would come to you this week with the vital lessons learned thus far in my writing journey. However, I’m going to ask you to pardon me for today. I need to decompress a little bit. My intention will be to come back later this week to post “Writing Momentum (Part Two)”, but I won’t put a guarantee on it since I may be temporarily stuck in chill mode. Truthfully speaking, I’ll still be GETTING THINGS DONE, but it won’t be in terms of writing a manuscript anymore. I need to pick up some of the things I let go by the wayside like getting my next YouTube video up which I’m incredibly overdue for. I will also be re-reviewing the material in Publishing E-Books for Dummies by Ali Luke, especially the section on formatting an e-book manuscript in Word. (I’m currently knee-deep in that part of the process). Furthermore, I’ll be reading a book that I purchased when I was looking at doing freelance proofreading work. The book is called Copyediting & Proofreading for Dummies by Suzanne Gilad. I bought it over a year or so ago and never really got started on it. I figure that now would be a great time to absorb its information as well.
Lastly, thanks to all of you who have been following me along this journey. Please don’t disappear, though. I still have a ways to go and I’ll need every Accountability Partner out there to help keep me on track. You’ve been very much appreciated.
All I can say after reading this old blog post is that SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE.:)
degreesofmaternity.com 