Finding the time....

I quickly learned over the years that writing a story/novel is not an overnight deal.

I started writing my novel in June of 2018. I would write any opportunity I had. I worked a desk job that allowed me some down time in front of a computer screen, so I had my document open at all times and would take every inch I could to up my word count.

Then I got married, got a new job, bought a house, had a baby. All within 2 years, I still wrote whenever inspiration struck, but with other focuses in my life, I went through a rather dry period where I barely wrote.

My story was about half done when I decided to get back into it. This was when I had my baby already and was on maternity leave in tbe midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. So with no where to go, and a baby who slept and my body adjusted to the new "mom clock" I found myself with some down time again. I decided to make tik tok videos to keep myself accountable and continue writing until I finished the story.

It was hard, even though the plot and characters never left my imagination during these years, I still had to partially re-read what I had already written in order to get my writer mind working again. Very much like riding a bike, once I got back into it, the words flowed.

So, I finished! I finished my first draft (very fluffy draft at that) and felt a great sense of accomplishment. I told my parents and they were so happy for me, knowing my life long dream to be a writer. But then.....that was it, for a while.

I knew editing takes a big chunk of the steps towards publishing. I only had 1 draft, it was mindless and just got the story on the page. Now I had to cut, alter, possibly rewrite, add, fix etc. Throw in a struggle with postpartum depression and I was back into a slump. I didn't touch my draft for months, my baby became more active and my motherly duties expanded.

It wasn't until a month before my 12 month maternity leave was up that I decided to return and begin working through draft 2. I haven't stopped editing since.

It's been 4 months and I have read my story through about 5 times at this point and on my 4th draft, probably the closest I will get to it being "perfect". However, I find myself getting impatient with how long it's taking. Why? Because with being back at work now, along with being a mom, helping keep the house in order etc, I simply find myself with less time.

I kick myself sometimes, thinking I should have spent more time on it when I had the time. But clearly, I just wasn't in the right headspace at those times. Now, I'm motivated and working hard to make sure it's the best version of the story I could possibly write.

I only had a set number of hours in a day where I can dedicate towards my story, but patience is a muscle. I have to keep reminding myself that the story will be complete and the manuscript will be final when it's final. This type of process can't be rushed.

So, if you see me post or writing smack dab in the middle of the day, ridiculously early in the morning or late at night, you know I just managed to get some downtime and got some words going!

Hopefully, this novel will be worth the wait!

If you're still here, thank you for listening to my fluff!

If you have the time, sit and write!

J.J. Monique