The whine of a child… the whine of a writer.
Forget the damn “enjoy the journey, not the destination” advice. Whoever espouses it has obviously not been on a long-haul flight to the other side of the world (in economy, of course). Sure, the anticipation at the start of the journey is exciting and even the newness of its first leg is exhilarating, but by the 11th hour, cramped and stiff in a tiny airplane seat, with at least one or more hours to go, it’s difficult to hold onto the joy of the journey. By that point, you just want to be there. Even if the majority of the voyage is behind you, even if you remember faintly the fun of its beginning, the remaining time, however short in relation to the overall trip, seems torturous. You no longer want the journey; you want only the destination.
So it is with writing.
I am 81,055 words in (313 manuscript pages so far). Often YA novels range between 50,000 and 80,000 words, with many more coming in closer to 100,000. I suspect I have another 5,000 or so words to go before this draft is complete. Once more edits are done on the next draft, I suspect I’ll be within acceptable limits to submit to publishers and literary agents.
I’m so close…
And yet I’m so done with it.
I don’t mean to quit. That’s like saying I’ll get off the airplane with only an hour to go before it lands because I’m tired of the flight. It’s as impossible, as me giving up on this novel.
Still, I just want it done. 🙂
I want to enjoy the destination now, to read the completed story and see how it hangs together, to get comments and feedback from others to see how they like it, to see if I can interest a literary agent or publisher. I’d like to experience the next phase of a writer’s life. ‘Cause right now, from where I’m sitting, in my cramped seat, tired and weary from the journey, I’d like nothing more than a refreshing change of scenery.
“Here, let me,” Ayaan tells Lyra, as she takes a beautiful forest green silk scarf, a hijab, and wraps it expertly around Lyra’s dark hair.
There. I’ve added another 25 words to my draft. 4,975 more words to go.
Nothing like counting down the word count the way you would count down the minutes of a long flight.
It is Friday morning.
4,971 words to go…