Do You Feel a Draft?

News! Suddenly and without warning, I finished the first draft of my novel yesterday. It had been a morning of writing avoidance, and I pushed myself to do just a bit, when hours later I found myself doing the last few lines and realised- that was it. All done. Oh... Just like that.
I'd given birth without noticing! It's been a three month labour and the baby's a bit small at 42,000 words but I envisage as she gets to about 6 rewrites, she will have grown nicely,will be beautiful and will be able to stand on her own two legs.
Such a strange feeling, standing on this hill where I am now. Theres the peaks ahead of me, yet to scale that I'm excited about, but it's also nice to look back and see how far I've come. And for me, finishing something for myself, is a bit of a miracle.
So, I thought it would be off the keyboard for a bit to give me some objective space before rewrites, but then I just bought tickets for the NSW Writers Centres Festival. You can get a chance to pitch your book to industry professionals as well as put forward the first page of your book for appraisal so... It's back to the keyboard to work on some other stories I have. Such trivialities as painting the house will have to wait!

Simpatico Problemo

Other peoples words can get in your way when you are writing. As a writer, it is important (they say) to read,and though I struggle to find the time, I do try and do that. I mean hey, I love to read and it's even better when it is 'strongly recommended' that I do so. If I must!
There is one large problem that I have found with that: Everybody writes with their own 'voice'. Fair enough BUT I am an empathic kind of person; if I meet someone with an accent, I find I pick up some of the accent speaking to them. If I watch a dramatic movie, I can be stressed for days. Hence if I am reading Jane Austen, I am horrified on reading back my writing from the day before that I am trying to use Jane Austen's voice to write with. Don't get me wrong, Jane's is a lovely voice, but it's not mine and stands out like gherkins and ice cream.
So, if I am making the journey of writing a novel, I now try to check my mental shoes to see what I may have trodden in before I traipse back into writing my book.I have really found it best for me to work with a mental doormat.

NOTE: I am not in any way comparing Sense and Sensibility to dog poo.