Break out the party cannon, the rough draft of Greenhouse is done! >D Of course there is the nut busting, fun, necessary process of proofreading before I can call the project completed and start posting preview chapters on my site. But, in addition to fighting this evil sickness that’s been going around my home AND work, I have been plagued with a case of post-completion confusion I have dubbed The Now What’s.
I can’t be alone in that feeling; the elation of typing “The End” fades and despite the pile of other projects you (may) have to jump on, you sit there at your computer or with the notebook in your lap with a cartoonish question mark floating above your head. For a moment, you panic. You don’t have the next book ready to start in your brain meats yet, you know you have to edit but editing is NOT the same as the generous flow of new prose. Going through the editing process harms you further because you find all those typos that make you believe you weren’t typing so much as mashing your appendages against the keyboard. Also, I have to admit, I have places in the rough manuscript which look like this:
Genius words in a fabulous scene. More genius words. Yet even more.
**Add more detail here**
The brilliance continues.
Yes, the “completed” draft is riddled with “add more here” notations like you wouldn’t believe. But the story is there.
As to the Now What’s, how did I get over it, you ask? I didn’t write for a night. I completed the rough draft on Monday and that night I continued my goal to finish my 100 books in a year by parking it on some propped up pillows, reading this trashy romance novel (does WONDERS for clearing out the brain), and went to bed. Now, I’m rested and ready to go on the next thing!
Whatever that will be. XD