I’m proud to announce the completion of the rough draft of my first novel. See picture for the generous glass of shiraz that I poured for myself last night!
The working title of the book is “Finding Seth.” It’s about a woman in her late 30s named Lola who struggles so much with her infertility that she decides she cannot stay married to Paul, her husband of 16 years. After their divorce and some other crazy twists of fate, Lola has to decide how much she is willing to risk and how far she’s willing to go for the chance to be a mother.
As I’ve mentioned before, the biggest obstacle to writing this book has been my own self-doubt: Maybe it won’t be any good. Maybe no one will want to read it. Maybe it’s way too long. Maybe the tone is totally inconsistent. It will probably never get published.
I fight these nagging voices in my head every time I sit down to write. They are loud and boy are they distracting! But you know what? I’ve decided they don’t matter. Maybe my book never will get published. Maybe no one else will like it, except me. And I’ve made peace with that, because I like it. I’ve read enough books to know when one is interesting and when one is crap. And this one, while it might never be a best-seller, is at least somewhat interesting in my opinion. Here’s just a short sample:
“There has to be a limit to pain. And once you cross that threshold, any new pain just gets seamlessly blended in with the existing pain, unrecognizable to the sufferer as different or unique from the previous suffering. Even though that’s what I said I wanted, that’s about as best as I can sum up my husband walking out on me.”
~’Finding Seth’~
Some stats on “Finding Seth”:
- Total word count: 62,888
- Date started: Jan. 21, 2016
- Draft completed: March 2, 2016
- Total writing time: 67 hours, 19 minutes
Last thing — I’m already completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and encouragement I’ve received from friends, family and fellow writers on my personal and professional Facebook pages. I was moved to tears (shocking!) last night as the “likes” kept pouring in. You guys are fantastic! If this thing ever does get published, I’m going to be a sobbing mess. Get ready! And thank you thank you everyone for all of your support!
LB