The day after finishing a novel: Day one

I had a heavy feeling lingering after I finished my novel yesterday. This novel has been such an emotional roller coaster. I felt the strong emotional burden the main character felt at the end. It lingered all night. I guess in some ways I too had to let something go. In my own ways this novel was very freeing. It was a reminder that I can still write. And better yet, that I can improve and get better at writing. Which really was enough to rekindle that passion I once had for writing. I feel wonderful. I want to write more and more. Ending this journey makes me feel sad. I've laughed with the characters, cried with them and helped them through tricky challenges. I felt as if I had been the one to go through myself. It feels good to finish this novel.

Today I allowed my fiance to read over the ending scenes. And he said something that excited me. "It's giving me chills." I've never had him say that about my writing before. Truth be told when I write fight scenes I always feel like it isn't good enough but I guess that's because I'm writing it. I only see it flat out in front of me. He saw it the way I wanted it to be seen. I'm so happy it came out better than I had thought. I put a lot of emotion into the final few pages of the novel. He felt the passion. That is all I can ask for.

After reading he gave me some ideas. And they really helped. I went in and revised the last few pages, adding in a lot. Last night when I finished I kept questioning myself "Should I add something more?" And he noticed that and offered me some insight about things he would like to see in it. His ideas were pretty darn good and I agreed. I added them in, changing it a bit and am finally happy to say I am 100% happy with the ending. It leaves it open. In case I decide to write a sequel later on. I think it will also make the readers think. "What happened with this or that?" I like those types of novels. I hope mine is like that. I really tried hard with this one.

And I have a good feeling about it.

Now that the ending has been revised I'll start editing. But not tonight. I use my Kindle for editing so I can read through it while in bed and catch some of those pesky and obvious mistakes before going to bed. Right now I am going to start on either the query letter or the synopsis. Not sure which it depends on which thoughts come to me first. I may start with the synopsis tonight and refresh my memory on how to write a well thought of query letter tomorrow.

Day one after finishing my novel has proven to be a good start. But there is a lot more work to be done.


Thank for you reading!