this dreadful photo is brought to you by my laptop’s camera and shows my foot on the treadmill and the rear part of a sleeping dog; you will just have to trust me on this
I finished my book!
It’s true! The manuscript for Girl Runner was delivered this afternoon around 1:14 PM, ready for the next step: copyediting.
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a post with a similar title: “I finished my book!” I’d just completed what I believed to be a satisfactory first draft of Girl Runner (by which I mean, actually, a second/third/or even fourth draft) that I felt was ready to be shown to my agent. “Did you write THE END?” one of my children asked, and I admitted that I generally didn’t do that. I didn’t do that today either.
THE END
It’s not the convention anymore, to inform the reader that the story is over. I wonder why not? It has a certain tidiness to it. Maybe we don’t accept the same sense of an ending anymore.
I am currently walking off my lunchtime samosas on the treadmill, while typing this post.
Samosas eaten in the last four days: 11. (I bought them in bulk, for a fund-raiser, and apparently am going to consume them single-mouthedly.)
Miles walked since consuming lunchtime samosas: 1.95
Dogs currently in office: 1. Scratch that: 2. (Suspicious: what was she up to?)
Oven: not fixed.
Word count on finished manuscript: 87,001. (Seriously! And 1!)
What I want to do to celebrate: ??
Public meetings attended on the subject of a giant condo being built opposite our house in the very near future: 1 (yesterday evening)
Kilometres run/walked yesterday, the bulk of them through heavy snow: 13.5
Hot yoga classes attended, also yesterday: 1
Mood: mixed, melancholic, muscular
Yay you! I like your mood at the end. Tell me more about the condo meeting too: I just saw the design for the first time today. It looks like something out of Star Wars to me. Will it be ok? Is it a done deal? Will you ever get out of your driveway?
I left the meeting feeling despondent, and figuring we’re pretty much screwed. They’ve tinkered with their original design, but what can’t be fixed by tinkering is the scale, which is simply disproportionate for the neighbourhood. It sounded very much like a done deal, with perhaps a bit more cosmetic tinkering to soothe the angry cries of the frustrated neighbours. We will never get out of our driveway again. I have to admit I came home tempted to try to sell our house and just move. But who would want to buy it under these circumstances? I imagine eventually someone will be interested in this lot for development purposes… Definitely contributing to my mixed mood!
This sounds familiar in that we live in a house we’re quite positive will be a tear-down when we sell. A tear-down! Our perfect, happy, family home where we’re comfortable and satisfied with the space we have. And then someone will just say “Hopeless, unsalvageable” and a big machine will bash it to the ground in one morning. Sigh … it’s them I feel sorry for – not us – we are richer for being happy with what we have (I think). My only hope is we will be moving to Wolfe Island when we leave this house – and be deliriously happy to be doing so – so it won’t hurt as much to know our old creaky, drafty, homey home is gone … A very long way of saying I’m sympathetic for your situation. And congrats on being DONE (this part of the book voyage).
Our house is beautiful and over a century old and we have an unusually large lot for our location–all excellent features. But it’s just inside the urban zoning line (literally just — the apartment building next to our house is outside of it!). And that means we are in an area slated for increased intensification. I can imagine a developer buying up our lot, and the four other houses nearby that fall into the zone, knocking them down, and putting up another giant condo.
Yay! Finished book!
Do you feel a burning desire to cut out a word somewhere?
Oh man, that is so exactly what I felt, Nath! ONE LITTLE WORD! But then I couldn’t do it. It didn’t feel right.
I love that one little word! I love it! And I think I have another one for you: SUCCESS!!!!!! HOORAY! So excited for this next stage for you. You def need to think of something to celebrate this! It’s a huge accomplishment, AGAIN! Kudos to you, dear Carrie. I can’t WAIT to feast my eyes on it! xo
Increased intensification is a very good thing, in my opinion. Living near the Death Star is not. I am sorry this is what’s going on. When I look at the landscape of uptown and think back a dozen years, it’s incredible the changes that have been wrought. I have to wonder, though, whether there really are THAT many people looking for condos in uptown Waterloo to fill all the new spaces being built.
Yup. Exactly what I thought as I walked to the public meeting last night, staring up at the heights of those unfinished condos overlooking Waterloo Park: who is going to live here?
Congratulations! I can’t wait to read it.
Canadian pub date: Aug/Sept. 2014. US pub date: Feb. 2015.
Congratulations!!
Congratulations, Carrie! You are an inspiration. I hope you found a way to celebrate.