Well, I’ve been here before, but it still feels good.
I’ve written twenty chapters on my current writing project, “The Serpent and the Dove,” and I have just one more chapter to write. That will signal the end of the first draft of this book. Yay.
There’s always mixed feelings at this point in writing. The more I write, the less satisfied I am with the quality of the product that comes out of my keyboard in that first draft. And I have to remind myself what both Anne LaMott and Ernest Hemingway said: that the first draft of anything is shit. Excuse my French, but it’s their words, not mine.
Right now, I have a pretty good idea what needs to be fixed. There are many false starts in chapters that need to be eliminated. Conversely, there are several scenes where description needs to be expanded.
But overall, I’m pretty happy with the product. As I was telling my fellow professor here in the offices at Southwestern Adventist University, in the middle of the book, I kept saying to myself, “this is crap, this is crap.” But now as I get to the end and everything is pulling together, I find myself saying, “Hey, this is pretty good.”
It will be better with some editing. I know that. I just have to finish that One. Last. Chapter.
Almost there…
The Great Adventure 