Suzanne Olsson
03-28-2007, 07:24 AM
I have just completed my book. I'm sure of that because now I no longer have the urge to sit in front of computer for 18 hours a day, and I can even shrug off the occassional error I spot if I dare look at it again..
I have learned some important lessons from all this intensity.....Lesson 1:
the more I kept going over everything, the more uninteligable it all became..then I'd stumble upon one more little fact, one more line of interest: should I include it? Where? Do I have to rewrite the entire chapter to incorporate it? Can I slip it in here? Or there? Maybe if I just "cut and paste" and slide it into this little paragraph....what proud moments! I thought I was soooo clever!
Next morning my neighbor came for five minutes (she knew not to stay longer while I was writing...which was at least 12 hours a day) I'd shove my latest page right under her nose and insist she just glance at it, so sure I'd get wonderful confirmations and feedback (authors have this ego problem...constantly needing reassurance that they're sane...they rarely get it) ...all she saw was spelling errors, misplaced nouns and adjectives, and cliched phrases running together in an ilogical "cut and paste" never never land...that made no logical sense to anyone...least of all the me....I wrote it but I couldn't read it...and so back to the delete button...ego whacked out of shape, confidence all gone...that's lesson #1...if you are writing, limit yourself to sane, normal hours...
It took me six long, intense months...
Every time someone phoned or emailed me...if they didn't want to talk about my research, then I couldn't relate to anything else they said...like we had become residents on two seperate planets, one place for authors, and the other place for all the sane, normal, rational people....
It seems I put my entire life on hold to get this book done..it's been exhausting. Grueling. Intense. I will never do this again. I'm sure of that. In a few moments, I'm going outside to plant jumbo tomatoe seeds, then I'm going to the Mall and look at spring clothes....I'll get my taxes done tomorrow, and take the car in for an oil change...I'll treat myself to a nice lunch with friends....and we will get silly and laugh and compare waiste sizes, and talk about everything except the book I wrote...
Hello world. It feels good to be back among the sane. Life is good again. :p
Sue
I have learned some important lessons from all this intensity.....Lesson 1:
the more I kept going over everything, the more uninteligable it all became..then I'd stumble upon one more little fact, one more line of interest: should I include it? Where? Do I have to rewrite the entire chapter to incorporate it? Can I slip it in here? Or there? Maybe if I just "cut and paste" and slide it into this little paragraph....what proud moments! I thought I was soooo clever!
Next morning my neighbor came for five minutes (she knew not to stay longer while I was writing...which was at least 12 hours a day) I'd shove my latest page right under her nose and insist she just glance at it, so sure I'd get wonderful confirmations and feedback (authors have this ego problem...constantly needing reassurance that they're sane...they rarely get it) ...all she saw was spelling errors, misplaced nouns and adjectives, and cliched phrases running together in an ilogical "cut and paste" never never land...that made no logical sense to anyone...least of all the me....I wrote it but I couldn't read it...and so back to the delete button...ego whacked out of shape, confidence all gone...that's lesson #1...if you are writing, limit yourself to sane, normal hours...
It took me six long, intense months...
Every time someone phoned or emailed me...if they didn't want to talk about my research, then I couldn't relate to anything else they said...like we had become residents on two seperate planets, one place for authors, and the other place for all the sane, normal, rational people....
It seems I put my entire life on hold to get this book done..it's been exhausting. Grueling. Intense. I will never do this again. I'm sure of that. In a few moments, I'm going outside to plant jumbo tomatoe seeds, then I'm going to the Mall and look at spring clothes....I'll get my taxes done tomorrow, and take the car in for an oil change...I'll treat myself to a nice lunch with friends....and we will get silly and laugh and compare waiste sizes, and talk about everything except the book I wrote...
Hello world. It feels good to be back among the sane. Life is good again. :p
Sue