Wa-Hoo! I'm Finished- Sort of

By Christine Thackeray

The writing process is an interesting one. It begins with an idea. Sometimes it's an experience from my childhood or a great piece of gossip. Sometimes it's a strange character that makes me laugh or something I've read the I don't agree with and want to change. With any luck that idea then expands into a story arc.

Once the concept of the story is solidified, I begin writing. The dishes pile up, the laundry barely gets done and I write. Necessities are still taken care of, children are hugged and fed but everything else must wait while the story emerges.

When the last word is written, there is a huge feeling of success. That happened this morning for me. I finished my manuscript "An Angel In the Family." I did my happy dance and emailed out the draft to six of my closest friends and now, I've just begun.

The truth is, I have finished very little. I've only begun the editting process. Then I have to try to sell it to a publisher, and it goes through another edit, and then I try to breath life into the market by begging for reviews, blogging about it and telling everyone that will listen what a great book it is.

But for today, I will pretend I've actually finished something. After all I wrote the words "The End"- Wa-Hoo!

Changing the "Baby"

by Terri Ferran

I dressed up my "new baby" (my manuscript) and sent her out on her own last Saturday to face the cold, cruel world of Editing from those wonderful people who have agreed to read it and tell me the truth.

Mingled with the joy of actually finishing the manuscript, is the fear of having someone hate it; or liking it, yet picking it apart.

I mentioned my fears to my daughter, telling her it was like showing my real baby to someone and having them say "Cute, but it's cross-eyed" or "Did you notice its ears are crooked" or "It could use a little more hair" or "Your baby is ugly".

She explained that I was looking at it wrong; that it was more like a shower, where people might say "Here's a bow to make your baby prettier" and were giving me gifts to help my baby.

I realized that my biggest fear was that someone might say "Oh, your baby stinks! You need to change it!" Or worse, never want to hold my baby again.

Like many writers, I hate the criticism of my creations; yet I know I am a better writer because of it. I value the input from others, but find that I dwell too much on small negatives and not enough on the huge positives. I let the moments of glory be overshadowed by mountains of doubt--my own self-doubt.

My goal for this week--enjoy the shower of gifts and ignore the downpour of doubts!