The Truth about Writing

I knew that once I finished writing 'Bob' I wanted to take some time to reflect back on what it was that I was doing. Bob isn't my first novel. Bob is actually the fourth novel that I have written, but it is the first that I have written to completion with the confidence that it is actually good writing.

About a week ago, I felt like I would never finish Bob. I felt like a terrible writer. I kept thinking back to everything that I was teaching my own students and wondering where in the world I was pulling it into my own writing. I felt like a failing author. Like someone who couldn't ever publish a book.

I know that there aren't many people who are reading my blog, but for those who are, I appreciate it. There hasn't been a lot of feedback on Bob just yet, but I'm hoping there will be. I begin the editing and revising process today once the rest of the novel is printed off. The craziest part is that the revising and editing can take just as long as the writing process itself.

My hands are cramped from typing. My joints are stiff from holding a pen for too many hours this month. I realized that if I took every single hour that I worked on Bob just for this month and put it together, I would have written for over 2 days straight. Over 50 hours worth of time went into this novel just this month. That doesn't account for the planning that took place over the summer and the good 20 - 30 hours put in there.

For the first time in my life, I realized exactly how difficult it was to be a professional writer. So many times I am working on little projects (scripts, poems, picture books). But to put together a full fledged children's novel in a month. Wow!

I continue to read stories about how people were found and how they were able to start their careers as full time writers. I can only hope that that will be my story as well.

I can only thank Bob for the inspiration. The girls in my book know that it is Bob that changed their lives and that's probably because he's changing mine right now.

The passion and confidence about writing in my life has returned. There are currently two other novels in the process of being designed in my head. I'm very excited to begin work on them and create something new.

But in the mean time, I need to get back to my writers notebook. I've been neglecting it all month!