Back In The Saddle

I finished my manuscript in February, and although I have an idea for another novel, I've put little time into it for multiple reasons. In order, here are my excuses why I haven't been fully committed to writing a new novel:

1. Let's face it: A finished draft means almost nothing. When I finished my manuscript, I naively thought I was sort-of finished. And then I realized it was 200,000 words long, confusing at times, and full of pointless stories and reduntant adjectives. Editing, I realized, was a whole new, long process that involved hours of printing drafts at FedEx Kinkos, multi-colored highlighters, and strong coffee.

2. What woman, who has just given birth to the most beautiful thing she has ever seen, wants to go straight back into the delivery room? Writing my novel was a mentally exhausting years-long challenge, and when I got to the end of it, I looked at a blank page the same way I would look at Mt. Everest. The task seemed too daunting. My brain didn't feel ready for it. I was exhausted.

I thought I would come up with more excuses than that, but I guess those are the two main ones. To be fair to myself, I have been writing. As I mentioned, I've been doing hours upon hours of editing. And I've been doing writing exercises, and as you can see, I took an online writing class. And I've been reading a lot (if you are a writer in need of an ego check, reading Anne Tyler and David Foster Wallace is one way to lower your self-esteem in a matter of a page). So I haven't been a complete slacker. But the thought of starting another novel, well, it just felt like too much.

This week, however, after sending out my five query letters and signing up for LinkedIn and Twitter, I hopped back into my writing full-force, which is why I didn't go to the gym yesterday and I'm not going out with my friends tonight. I'm climbing back on the daily-writing-comes-first horse. Second manuscript...here we come!