A Time To Leave

A Time To Leave is the title of my romance novel.  I didn’t post on Wednesday because I was working on the outline.  I’m going to submit it to the James Jones First Novel Fellowship.  This award is awarded annually to an American author of a first novel in progress (according to Writer Magazine January 2018).

My novel has been in progress for the last 12 years.  I started writing it when I first started dating my husband.  We’ve been together 15 years.  The date on one of the manuscript pages is 2-26-06.   I probably worked on it for a good year or so before the first draft was complete.  I would go to Hardee’s one or two mornings a week before work to write and grab breakfast.

I never completed the second draft.  The completed first draft was sitting in my hope chest up until a year ago when I decided to put it on the first shelf of my bookshelf.  I have looked at it.  I have moved it to dust and thought about revising it.  I maybe read part of it and then edited it some and then put it back to collect dust.   I haven’t done a major 2nd draft revision.

Until now.

The 2nd revision is on my 2018 to do list (along with how many other unfinished writing projects).  I read the prologue and the first two chapters and edited it on the way back from Vegas in early January.  I read the entire manuscript one night when I was sick.  I’ve been rewriting the prologue (which you read in my last post) and I started to rewrite the 1st chapter.

The submission guidelines for this award is: a two page outline of the entire novel and the first 50 pages.  I have most of the outline complete and the first five pages typed.  Deadline is March 15, 2018.

I set this award as a goal because I knew it would kick start me to edit/rewrite my novel.  I know my chances of winning are slim.  Probably very slim, but I’m not doing it to win.  I’m doing it to submerge myself in my novel.  To get to know my characters again.  How they live.  How they interact with others.  How they talk.  How they love.  How they feel.  In the last couple of weeks I have learned a lot about my characters and my novel.

I’m happy and excited to be working on it again instead of it collecting dust.

A Time To Leave by Chrissy.   Coming to bookstores in 2019.

If there are any brick and mortar stores left……