One Year

Wow—it’s been a year.

 

I’ve been a published author for exactly one year today.

 

When I started this journey on October 31, 2017, I had no idea I’d be where I am today.

See, on October 31, 2017, Facebook popped up one of those “on this day” messages to me.

“I’ve had this idea for a murder mystery in my head about a coroner named Fenway. I think I’m going to sign up for NaNoWriMo and start writing it this month!”

 

That message was dated October 31, 2009.

 

Now, I’ve always believed that one day I’d write a novel. I majored in English with a creative writing emphasis, and I’ve taken so many creative writing classes that I’ve lost count. I wrote a bunch of short stories in college, and I started a novel back then too, but I wrote myself into a corner about 40,000 words into it. And I had obviously promised myself I’d participate in National Novel Writing Month—where you pledge publicly to write 50,000 words in a new novel in 30 days—and I never got past Chapter One.

 

When I saw that Facebook “on this day” message come through, it felt like a slap in the face. Had I really spent the last eight years doing absolutely nothing to make my dream of becoming a novelist a reality?

 

So right then and there, I made a promise to myself: I would write the murder mystery about Fenway the coroner, starting the very next day.

 

And here’s the important part of the pledge: I wouldn’t stop until I was done.

 

I wouldn’t stop to edit in the middle.

 

I wouldn’t second-guess what I was doing.

 

I wouldn’t stop until I was finished.

 

I signed up on the NaNoWriMo website, and started drafting my book on November 1.

 

The first draft of the novel was actually written in first person, from Fenway’s point of view. About 50,000 words into it—I still had a few days before the end of the month when I hit the goal—I realized the...Read More