On A Break: The Post-First Draft Blues

Today marks my first day in over a month of not working on my first draft of Cougarette in the Country. As most writers know, finishing a first draft is a bittersweet moment.

On one hand: YAY! I finished my draft! Give me alcohol.

On the other hand: Now what the hell do I do with myself?

So here it begins for me - that lull between the completion of the first draft and the beginning of the rewrite process. My rewrite is scheduled to begin on March 1st but I already know that I'll return to my draft sooner than that. I can't help myself. I started a page in my journal to jot notes of where I want to change/add/extract text as they occur to me. It's still on my mind - CeeCee and Jay refuse to vacate my psyche.

Is this healthy? I'm not sure.
Will it change? Probably not.

I came across this blog entry by Isabel Sterling and retweeted it last night. The one piece of advice I grasped from it was simple: Keep reading and keep writing.

I dusted off my Kindle and started two new books. I'll continue blogging and fine tune another unrelated manuscript as I bide my time until I return to my draft.

At lest this is the shortest month of the year. February will go by just like that, right? *sigh*