Thursday, November 15, 2007

Contrary to POPULAR opinion...


Here's what *doesn't* happen when you finish your manuscript:

-there's no marching band
-there usually aren't any flowers (though I am lucky enough to have some left over from another celebration earlier in the week)
-your friends with scary grown-up jobs can't suddenly drop their workloads and rush over to have an impromptu dance party in the middle of the afternoon
-the weekend doesn't magically present itself a full 24-hours earlier
-the weather doesn't clear up so that you can play with your dog in the park
-the rent bill doesn't vanish into thin air, along will other payments required
-your manicure doesn't randomly auto-refresh itself
-your first draft doesn't print and bind itself into a book

These are true facts. It's all a little bit anticlimactic. So you have to find ways to celebrate all for yourself (mine involve taking a "Gossip Girl" and popcorn break).

Yes, you heard right: my manuscript for the tentatively titled POPULAR VOTE (Scholastic, 11/08) is off, sailing through the ether, as we speak. And to think, only two months ago, it was just a sparkle in my editor's eye....

NOW can I take a nap, please?

2 comments:

Wendy Toliver said...

Isn't it amazing that something as small as a popcorn and GG break can be such a big deal when you've been working so hard? :)

Jennifer Echols said...

-there's no marching band

Actually, when I finished my book last week, the Benjamin Russell High School "Pride of Alexander City" Marching Band marched up and down the halls of my house playing "Who Let the Dogs Out." In my mind.

Congrats on finishing the book, and just in time for the holidays! You have some major decompression to do!