I can hardly believe it, but I assure you it’s the truth! The first draft of the Waltzing Matilda is now completed! I’d run laps right now, but it has been a very long night, err day. One of those things… or maybe both. Is the sun out?
This one has taken longer to write than anything else I have ever worked on. The first words I put down for this story were back in 2017, long before I knew this would be a five-book series. Looking back, it’s been nuts. There were days of clarity, weeks of cloudy days, what felt like unending brain drains, and hourly sparks of creativity. It has not been the easiest road to cross.
I do have to say that given everything I’ve learned in this whole process, I was able to utilize just about every lesson I learned on this one. From starting with an outline, pantsing it every now and again, letting the characters take me along for the ride, to brutally writing every word down in the most structured and controlled manner.
And I picked up a few new tricks, too! Also, some pointers for the next big excursion (having a character sheet with people’s full names, places names, actually anything to do with names for one). And it all worked. I’m serious about running some victory laps, but (oy) these legs are dead.
Now comes the fun part! Editing this story I told myself into something worthy of reading. I like editing, I really do!
I am so excited!
Image by 0fjd125gk87 from Pixabay
Jon Gray Lang.com 