I haven’t had much to say about my novel as of late so I thought today would be your lucky day to know how hard this is! I am just a few chapters away from finishing my first draft. You may think this means I see the light at the end of the tunnel. False.

Editing is just as much work if not more work than writing the dang thing. I’m struggling with removing two characters from my story and trying to smooth out a time-hop in around chapter sixteen. I have multiple beta readers who give great feedback but sometimes that can be confusing and frustrating too. Right now, I’m thinking of deleting the entire first chapter. It’s where my hook is. Do you know how hard it is to write a hook so readers will be absorbed within the first 100 words or less? I’ve already rewritten it about thirty times (over-exaggerated, but really about nine times) and now I want to take all that hard work and toss it? Am I crazy?

No! I’m not. I want a good book that readers will fall into. The pace has to match the tension. The plot has to be appealing. The characters have to be real and readers have to connect with them. I write through my heart, my brain, my groin, the tears, and frustration.

Get this story on paper. My goal right now is to finish draft one by the end of August, preferably my mid-August but I have three vacations this month like some rich person who doesn’t have three kids.

Once draft one is complete, I’ll drink a glass of wine the size of my bathtub.