My favorite two words in the English language are “the end” (“dark chocolate” comes in at a close second), and the other night I got to type them when I finished the manuscript for my third novel. It was quite a happy moment!
I’ve basically been hiding out in my house, saying no to fun summer invitations, eating lots of chocolate chips (it’s a scientific fact that they help you write better), and wearing a lot of pajamas in the daytime so I could finish the first draft while my kids are at camp. I also stopped writing blog posts and posting Balance Project interviews so I could focus entirely on the book. And now I’m so glad I did!
I used Scrivener this time instead of Microsoft Word. I barely used any of the features even though it’s such a robust platform. But just having a separate file for each chapter that I could access from the left menu was so helpful and saved me from scrolling. And scrolling. And scrolling. So props to Scrivener. Highly recommend it.
The first draft came out at 88,600 words which is 11,000 more words than The Balance Project.
As for what it’s about… it’s a dual story line.
- The first storyline is set in 1949 in Brooklyn and Manhattan and is historical fiction about 20-year-old Charlotte and an advertising program that took place for 36 years in NYC in the middle of the last century.
- The second storyline is contemporary fiction set in current day in NYC about Olivia, a 31-year-old female advertising executive. The storylines intersect and hopefully that’s where the fun begins.
Now onto editing. And beta readers. And then hopefully onto publication!
I’ll keep you posted.
xo
Susie
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