Personal Dance Party

So.  I often tell folks that I'm "sitting to pages" which means that I'm in the lab, looking at my screen and trying to find my way in this wacky writer world.  More often than not, the end result is whack.  The words suck, or the phrasing is for shit, or whatever.  

Tonight, after gym and cleaning my space, I sat to pages with the secret hope that I'd finish a project I've been working for a while.  I’ve been writing a novel for the last six weeks – a story that was birthed from a strange incident I saw with my neighbors a few months ago.  It started as a flash piece which quickly became a short story, and then a multi-voice narrative.  I recognized early on that it had promise, so I’ve been returning to it every chance I get.

Over this last month and a half, I’ve found a decided comfort in letting these characters speak to me.  Sometimes, I would sit at my machine and have no idea what the protagonists would end up doing; and other times, I sat down with a very clear idea of what I wanted to happen in the narrative.  It’s been a wonderful process, as much because it’s the first long work I’ve written that I’ve seen clearly; that is, I’ve understood the plot the whole way through, and because it’s been such a delight for work.  Some famous person once said that doing what you love isn’t work.  I’ve long held onto that adage, knowing it to be true, but this is the first time this process … well, hasn’t felt like work.

It’s been a glorious ride!

Tonight, I finished the first draft of this novel.  Finally wrote out the rest of the story that’s been itching inside of me for weeks.  And it feels fucking fantastic.  Personal dance party commenced immediately.  I kept staring at my screen, looking at my work count (35k plus) and my page count (122) and thinking, Fuck man.  I just WROTE this shit.  Hell yes.

Talk about being nourished.  About seeking out that which nourishes the soul, the heart, the mind.  I’m not even going to start thinking about revisions tonight because it’s DONE!  The novel is written.  Revisions will start soon enough.  For now, I’m going to relish in that which I’ve created.  And enjoy the fuck out of these moments.  Huzzah.