Recently, I typed THE END twice in one day. As in I finished writing two books in one day. Not Thomas the Tank Engine books, either. Proper chunky books.
Some people were asking about this on Twitter so I thought I'd explain. (Btw, this post is also on my Heartsong blog.)
First, please note that proper writers don't actually type THE END. It's regarded as a bit unprofessional. The professional thing to do is to type "ends" in little letters on the lefthand side. Bor-ring.
So, what I tend to do is type THE END in massive pink letters in a really tacky font. Then I dance around my office like an idiot - which is actually an idiotic thing to do, as my office is Not Big. And then delete it.
Anyway, how did I finish two books in one day?
Because, of course, I'd nearly finished them both the day before... My preferred method (not really the right word for my chaotic behaviour, tbh) is to work on two things at once, fiction and non-fiction. It means I never get bored. Unless I am bored with BOTH books, which is always possible, theoretically.
This time, I deliberately worked it so that I'd finish them on the same day. This gave me a stupendous sense of achievement. And exhaustion. I was too exhausted to celebrate, to be honest. Also, I was heading off to York a day later to do the York Festival of Writing, which was partly why I wanted to get them finished. And I knew that after York I'd be preparing for my Mumsnet course on parenting teenagers, so that would not allow more writing time.
The two books were The Teenage Guide to Stress and the start of a gothic fantasy series/trilogy/pair/standalone/whateverosity called (maybe) Castle Crone. I'm going to be telling you about the journey towards THE END of Castle Crone on Help! I Need a Publisher! very soon. It's not a pretty journey, let me tell you...
5 comments:
Love the idea of typing "THE END" in tacky pink and dancing around the office before deleting it. Think I'll try it next time around...
Just make sure you don't delete the whole thing...
Congratulations x 2. And now you can move on to the next stage x 2 and start thinking about the next book/s as well!
At the very least, you deserve chocolate!
I find myself working on two "in progress" and at least one "forthcoming event" so I know how that feels. Perhaps I'll just print out the last page and scrawl The End in glitter pen on it before throwing it away.
Hello there, its been awhile since I've stopped by; a pleasure, as always, reading your posts :D
Congratulations!
I too might try typing 'THE END' in a garish colour in an extremely large font, which I do all the time ... sometimes even when I haven't finished!
Am doing the rounds of agents at the moment -- to date I have 8 rejections ... and still smiling, though don't ask me why. But whatever happens I do owe you a GREAT BIG THANK YOU for all your help and advice on this blog and in your super-fab books!!
Looking forward to reading more about Castle Crone ... love the title.
Take care
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