Happy New Year!
In my last post, I mentioned coming down the homestretch of updating my first self-published novel a year and some change after its release. At that point, I’d finished all the items on my copyediting to-do list & was comfortable enough with the outcome that I added the following comment: ”Now that I’m done with that phase & ready to actually update the KDP version tomorrow, I can relax back into…”
Then for some reason or other, I took off my copy editor hat & started reading the beginning of that novel. Just free-range reading, you might say, to remind myself of how the narrative flows & all.
An hour later I realized I’d gotten caught up in Pearl’s narrative again—my own storytelling in written form.
I suppose I could say it dawned on me how much I actually still like the story itself even after crossing the finish line, but what I experienced was a simple emotion devoid of any sense of accomplishment—an appreciation of the story itself.
As it turns out, not only did I finish a novel I enjoyed writing & editing, but one that I can still read with an open mind—or so I think.
Of course, the icing on the cake for me continues to be how Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown pays homage to my mother, grandmothers, & aunts in ways most others might never fully appreciate.
Now that feels right.
Keep you posted.
Drew
