I should be excited--I sent off my finished novel on deadline last Wednesday.
But I was just so relieved that there wasn't room for anything else. You see, it was my nanowrimo novel from last year, which I didn't even get close to finishing in November. It sold on a partial--yes, I understand your incredulity, I couldn't believe it myself--and I still had half the novel to actually write, never mind revise.
I wasn't sure I could get it finished and in decent shape given that a) it was summer vacation b) we were going to Australia for 6 weeks, and c) my entire family was going to be there for a reunion.
So here's what I found:
You can write on vacation. You can write in Sydney, and LA, and Brisbane, and flying the mindbogglingly long flight over the Pacific. You can write on a plane while traveling with children. You can write in an airport. You can write AND catch up with your sisters, your nieces and nephews, your mum, your papa, your cousins, your aunt, and everyone else. You can write while jetlagged, while homesick, while wondering if your dog and cat and garden back home are getting along fine without you. You can write while worrying that you will not write fast enough, or well enough. That you will not get it done.
You just have to ...um, do it.
And now there is the matter of waiting to see if my publisher (Scholastic India) actually likes the thing.
Later, there will be edits and revisions. For this book as well as the other one. But that can wait.
Right now I'm going to sit around for a week or two, thankyouverymuch, wallowing in sheer and utter relief.
But I was just so relieved that there wasn't room for anything else. You see, it was my nanowrimo novel from last year, which I didn't even get close to finishing in November. It sold on a partial--yes, I understand your incredulity, I couldn't believe it myself--and I still had half the novel to actually write, never mind revise.
I wasn't sure I could get it finished and in decent shape given that a) it was summer vacation b) we were going to Australia for 6 weeks, and c) my entire family was going to be there for a reunion.
So here's what I found:
You can write on vacation. You can write in Sydney, and LA, and Brisbane, and flying the mindbogglingly long flight over the Pacific. You can write on a plane while traveling with children. You can write in an airport. You can write AND catch up with your sisters, your nieces and nephews, your mum, your papa, your cousins, your aunt, and everyone else. You can write while jetlagged, while homesick, while wondering if your dog and cat and garden back home are getting along fine without you. You can write while worrying that you will not write fast enough, or well enough. That you will not get it done.
You just have to ...um, do it.
And now there is the matter of waiting to see if my publisher (Scholastic India) actually likes the thing.
Later, there will be edits and revisions. For this book as well as the other one. But that can wait.
Right now I'm going to sit around for a week or two, thankyouverymuch, wallowing in sheer and utter relief.
4 comments:
A big milepost for you and your novel, Nandini. You are only the second person I know of who sold fiction on a partial. This, too, is BIG!
It is, and I'm grateful for it. Thanks for visiting and commenting, Mirka. :)
Congratulations Nandini! I knew you could do it!
Thank you, Kiki. You're such a good friend!!!!
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