Lessons

Ahhh!  What a journey I am on! 

When I made the decision to write a novel I went into it with no practical experience to call upon.  I got about a paragraph in when I realized there would be research involved.  So, I called up Google and Wikipedia to begin my journey back in time.

Over the next few days as I continued to write I grew more and more anxious!  Information was everywhere in the form of hand written scribbled notes and websites I had saved to my computer.  My mind was abuzz with the story in my head braided toghether with the voices of my mother and grandmother who have been lending me their recollections....  I sat in the midst of all of the chaos and realized I needed to get some sort of organization figured out or there would be no book. 

Before I had even really begun I almost quit.... But I didn't.

It's been about a month or so now and I'm still going strong.  I've gotten a rhythm that works for me and I've stuck to it.  My research notes are still not filed alphabetically and the huge favorites file on my PC not only still exists, but it's grown tremendously and used often.  In addition I also received some WONDERFUL books from my grandmother filled with the historical information specific to my story and the people in it. 

When the dates and seasons began to blur I realized I needed a timeline....  So, I also created a timeline.  It began to get difficult trying to remember each place I referenced a date...you can't switch one without switching them all...   I'm one of those people who add dates up in my head to make sure the author was paying attention... Sandra Gulland, you have always passed the test...

What I've learned so far.... 1.  there is no right way or wrong way to catalog your notes, go with what works for you.  2. Writing is like a croissant... it's just layers upon layers of goodness.  I write and re-write, tweak and touch-up and my story is morphing and breathing life on it's own.  3.  Don't research too much on how to land an agent... it will only intimidate you.   

So, I'm just about 60 pages (18,000) words into my novel and I LOVE it!  My life long love of poetry seems to be paying off and I'm sure I'll have no problem of reaching my 90,000 word goal.  For now, I'm going to just keep on writing until I'm sure it's perfect and then?  Well, I'll cross that bridge when I reach it.