I’ve been writing rabidly since the moment I hung up with my publisher.
It’s been about a month, and I have exactly one more week before the second draft is due. It’s unreal!
For a while, I felt like every spare moment was spent writing. I woke up in the morning to write, then got ready, my characters invading my mind all the while. Then I went to work, plots and characters and motivations and questions swirling in my brain. Then I came home and wrote more. All evening, actually.
I began to feel burnt out because I have no concept of having physical limits. I think I can I can I can . . . but sometimes I just can’t.
Something happened the other day that perfectly illustrated this. We had a staff training day at work, and for one of the sessions the speaker decided we should just go on a walk instead.
A 2-mile walk.
Now, I love a good walk. However, I was wearing a dress and ballet flats. I’m also stubborn, so I had to be at the front of the group the whole time.
By the time we rounded the corner (45 minutes later) and saw our office building, my ankles were crying out for relief.
I realized—wow. I need to give myself a break! Not just from work, but from writing even.
Because, I still have one more draft. It’s all going to come together.
Editing is a thousand times harder than writing. I can write all day. But now I have specific things I have to fix: I have a 70,000-word story that has to come together. Every sentence must connect to other surrounding sentences and chapters and plots.
My brain feels like Sherlock putting all these clues together.
If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that the harder the journey the greater the reward. I am so so excited for the day I get to hold the book in my hands, and that’s what’s propelling me forward.
Keep this in the back of your mind: I’ll be having an ARC campaign for my book this summer! I’d love to have you be a part of this. Stay up to date by following me on Instagram: @amanda.michelle.brown
Amanda Michelle Brown 