Ouf!

Ouf!  I sent off the book this morning, after rewriting the entire thing in four days flat.  This is NOT a process I am anxious to repeat!  It involved no going out, no email, no blog, no Facebook or Twitter, no wine and precious little sleep. 

Having staggered to the end of Chapter 10 of what I thought was a full draft but which turned out to be only an extremely poor rough draft, I sat down on Sunday to reread it.  Oh, dear, oh, dear.  There was clutching of hair, there was hyperventilating, and yes, even a few tears as I contemplated the end of my writing career.  

But I made myself start again, using the few scraps I could salvage (and believe me, there weren’t that many!). Once I got going again, it felt as if had clicked –not before time! – and I kept telling myself that once this chapter was over, it would all get easier, but it never did.  Just like life, eh?

Anyway, it is done.  I finished at 11.30 last night, and after a few last minute tweaks (more frantic scribbling in notebook after I went to bed) I pressed SEND and collapsed over my keyboard.  Then I went out and had my nails done and bought myself some daffodils, and swore that in my next life I’m going to have a nice, steady office job and never even think about writing a book.  (That’s the next life where I’m going to be rangy and curly-haired with skin like a peach and a silvery laugh, by the way … I'm going to be sooooo cool!) 

So although the copy edits and medieval shipping remain to be conquered, I am ready to go to London tomorrow for the weekend.  On Monday I’ll be having lunch with fellow M&B authors on the RoNA Rose shortlist – Liz Fielding and Kate Hardy among them – and then we’ll go along to the awards ceremony.  I daresay I won’t mind being a writer so much then! 

Back on Tuesday and back to work, and I’ll try and get some routine going on the blog front again then too.  In the meantime, thank you all for your good wishes last time, and have a wonderful weekend wherever you are.