I'm thinking about what to do with Caribbean Chaos, my 50,000 word masterpiece for NaNoWriMo. I do intend on letting everyone read it, but not until I've done a rewrite or two on it. I'm not planning on doing a rewrite until sometime in the early part of next year, so it'll probably be March or so before I have something for everyone to read. In the meantime, I have another writing project on my mind, one related to some of my favorite topics, which I'm going to begin next week, or sometime in the very near future.
I learned a lot from doing NaNoWriMo. One of the things that I learned was to start something and get it finished before I have much of a chance to worry about it. I also learned that what Hemingway said about the first draft of anything being shit is true. But, you have to start somewhere, and finishing something, no matter how bad it is, can sometimes be an accomplishment in and of itself. Margaret Johnson-Hodge, who I had the pleasure to meet in October, said that every one of her books represents nine drafts. She has published eight books, so that's 72 drafts. Her philosophy is to finish a first draft. I've done that. I feel good about it.
You all have listened to enough about it, and I'm sure that you're sick of hearing about it, but I appreciate it, and thank you all for your encouragement, your kind thoughts and prayers, and for your congratulatory notes when I finished. For those of you still writing on it, keep it up; even if you don't finish by tomorrow evening, finish. The feeling of accomplishment is fantastic, and maybe the biggest thing that I learned is that if you write every day, you can do it.
Off to make the bed for tonight. Talk to you all tomorrow.
