Book in 40 Days! Day 43!

But I will never ever try to do something that insane again. My head hurts. My body aches. My systems are all out of balance. I haven’t worked out enough to mention. I’ve missed the entire summer, for the most part, and I will never do that again. But it’s done.

All of this came about because I had a wonderful opportunity to have three connected romantic suspense novels released back to back in July, August and September of 2010. But of course that meant writing them back to back first, and getting them done in time for those release dates. A task which meant working long hours, every day, including most of my weekends and holidays, straight through the summer.

But it’s done! YAY! And now my normal daily schedule is going to seem like a breeze, what with days off every week and all.

Today, as I was writing the final scene, I was interrupted by two deliveries (FedEx brought a car part, and UPS brought books) about five phone calls, one cat demanding my attention, and numerous other little things. The dogs are all at Lance’s place for tonight. I might not have finished even by now, otherwise. And it’s been that way throughout this process. I’ve been writing with stuff going on all around me. I’ve been writing when my brain was saying, “Please don’t make me write another word today!”

And yet, I prevailed, and I’m feeling really great about it.

So now I need to take this first draft, which is rough and a bit choppy near the end, and go over it again. It’s like a diamond. First you cut it, and then you polish it. I am now entering the polish phase. I usually give myself a week and it’s usually hard to do it in less than two. The book is due in 7 days, though, so I’ll be pushing to get it done, even now. But I’m not going to kill myself over it.

Beginning tomorrow, I intend to get back to making feeling good my top priority. I had to give that a break to get this far, but no more. I miss it. So my priorities are officially shifting back to the things that make me feel good. Spending time outdoors, working out every day, meditation, and lots of time for fun. There are still a few nice days left before the snow falls, and I intend to enjoy them even while attempting to polish a couple of chapters a day for the next seven days. And then the book will be off to the editor.

I’m feeling triumphant and strong, but kind of sad that my summer is gone. Which is why I won’t do this again. At least, not anytime soon. =)

So what does it mean to me, that I managed this? I guess it just proves that we can do anything we truly believe we can. I like having proof of that, because it makes me believe it even more strongly, which makes me even more able to do anything I set my mind to. It’s all about what we believe, after all.

It also means I can start plotting the next pair of vampire books, which I’m just dying to get to. And then get on to writing the novella I have planned. At a reasonable, sane, pace. But before that, I’ll have the opportunity to go over the first two books of this trilogy one last time, to be sure everything lines up the way it should and sense is made all the way through. I love that I’ll have time to do that!

Most of all, it means I can relax tonight, and just . . . b-r-e-a-t-h-e. Ahhh, that feels good.