How Sweet it Is

Okay, I have finished The Sweet Girl. Just over 64,000-words. I like it. It needs a major rewrite, but I like it anyway. However, I am going to set it aside for now and work on other things. Apprentice needs a major rewrite and so I'm going to be focusing my attention there for a while.

It's funny about writing a book. Like any project which lasts more than a few days there are high points and low points. The Sweet Girl took me a little less than a month to write. About three weeks. I suppose in the minds of some that discredits the quality. How could I possibly have written anything worth reading of that length in such a short amount of time? My only answer to that is that I had the time. For the most part, I have 24/7 to devote to my writing. The only forced breaks are when I take Son to school, bring Son home from School, and take Son to saxophone practice at Northwestern College. Other than that, I'm pretty much here.

But pumping out words has never been a real problem for me. And I don't think I'm horrible at it. I'm not as good as some I've read, and not at all worth comparing to the true literary masters. After all, I've never been able to get any of my work published, so the quality of my writing has to remain suspect.

But I tell good stories. Sometimes.

I think The Sweet Girl qualifies. It's my first serious effort at writing detective fiction. Detective fiction is not something I personally have been into much, so perhaps I failed to wholly capture the detective feeling. I wrote it like a fantasy. In fact, I set it in a fantasy place. The idea is that there is one Prime Reality and many created realities around it. These created realities are used for holidays, and transportation between realities is regulated and controlled, similar to our traveling from country to country. Of course, I have to confess I have not traveled to another country in years. And the only other country I have visited is Canada. And back when I visited it one could cross the border without any trouble at all. The Canadian border guards simply asked why I was going there and told me to have a good time. Getting back into the United States wasn't so easy. Nor as friendly. But no special papers or things were required. I understand that has changed.

I like writing stories and I like it that I wrote something different than I normally write. What I really like is that I'm finally making it a practice to finish things I start. My Archives are filled with half-begun stories and concepts. But just this year, what I have I finished?

Swords of Fire: Traitor (epic fantasy)
Apprentice (short story)
Quest (short story)
Sassy and Otio (2 short stories)
Mist Over Monticello (a Legion Blog story told in five parts)
Ekundayo (short story)
Shadow People (novel)
The Sweet Girl (novel)

Of course, Swords of Fire probably shouldn't count. I've "finished" that more times than I can remember over the past thirty-five years, so it hardly counts as a current project. But even removing Swords from the list I have accomplished a lot this year.

This has probably been my greatest year ever for inspiration. And Ekundayo, Shadow People, and The Sweet Girl have all been begun and finished within the past eight weeks.

When the year began I was convinced something great and wonderful was going to happen, and that it would happen just before, or around, the end of summer. I was convinced it had to do with finances. But maybe it was this. A breakout of writing like I've never experienced before in my life.

I owe a lot of thanks to those who have encouraged me. This is particularly true for fairyhedgehog, who has continued to visit my blog and encourage me despite my manic moods. Thanks, Fairy.

Anyway, I've got another story. Some day I may actually get paid for all this creativity.