Golden Cherubs

Golden cherubs are dancing on the windowsill, their tiny bells ringing as the wind pushes the falling snow past the window.  The day is full of distractions and I dangle a mere seven thousand words away from the completion of the first draft of my novel.  I've done the crossword, braved the snow drifts to fetch bread and eggs from the local supermarket and cleared the snow from the creaking flat roof.  And now i've started a blog.  Talk about stalling!

In all seriousness though (cliche count: 1), I do feel an invisible force resisting my instinct to crack on and get this draft finished.  Maybe it's a bit of self doubt creeping in.  Maybe it's because I don't want to say goodbye to my characters.  Or maybe it's because I'm dreading the next stage:  The re-write(s)!

I wrote a novel once, in my early twenties.  A small publisher had agreed to read it, and so i rushed to get it finished, didn't re-write, sent it off badly formatted and inevitably received a rejection. They were gentle and encouraged me to keep on writing.  But that novel, that slab of sweat and tears, still sits on my shelf unedited and unloved.  It serves as a constant reminder of what happens if you try and rush things or cut corners.  I don't want it to happen again.  I don't want to end up with a whole shelf of forgotten words and mocking titles.

So I've started a blog to run alongside my re-writes with the intention of keeping me on track, but also to give anybody else trying to finish or publish their first novel a bit of moral support, and possibly even guidance.

Don't give up and don't get distracted.  I'm a thousand words in debt today and there's snow excuse!