Writing A Book and Squirrel!

My wife says I have ADD. I don't know about that, but in the last week I've also been accused twice of being hyperactive. Either way this lack of attention span is probably the reason that I have begun seven novels and never written past chapter one on any one of them.

But man, those first chapters are killer. You should read them.

I usually get about a chapter in and then Squirrel! A distraction! Another character. Another time period to write about. Another plot line I could play with.

But last week I achieved what I was beginning to think was impossible.

I completed a first draft of a novel.

My novel, which I began just over a year ago as a workshop piece in Eric Pinder's class, finally has a full story arc. The main character, Cardamom, has a personality. The smaller characters have their own depth, emotion. The story has a climax. A rather tense one, if I do say so myself.

(side note: if you haven't read Eric's work you should check out If All The Animals Came Inside. Adorable.)

I cried as I wrote the last chapter partly because it is an emotional chapter, partly because I had completed a book. And I'm still a bit amazed that I was able to do that. Even though all I've ever wanted to do is be a writer, I still struggle sometimes to believe I can actually do so.

Now, that doesn't mean it is a complete manuscript, of course. I have a relatively important character that completely goes missing after chapter four and I need to complete his story line. I also have some continuity issues to edit out and more than a couple typos, I imagine. Its going to be a bit before I can get to those because I'm editing two other writer's books this summer (possibly three?) and working on my senior project and taking this godforsaken Biology class that is mutilating my ego.

But whatever! I have a book to work with. I wrote a book.

This is means for celebration. So let's celebrate with this. This was my favorite moment in last week's Tony Awards.

'Cause I was busy.

Writing a book.