First Draft Done!

Whee! Getting away for a couple of days really helped me this week! My first draft for MAGDALENE is done and boy, is it a mess. But I can clean up a mess. It's creating something from nothing that's hard.

My favorite thing (writing tip ahead) about Microsoft Word is that "insert comment" feature. I'm a HUGE believer in not stopping to self-edit, so when I know I need to remind myself of something--say Mary puts on the shawl Quintus has given her, but he hasn't actually given it to her--I insert a comment that says "write a scene earlier where Quinn gives M. a shawl." And it appears like a beautiful little balloon in the margin.

So now I have a manuscript that is filled with colorful balloons and all my "peeve" words in all caps--THAT, WAS, WERE, LOOKED AT, etc. And Monday we begin the fun part--filling in all the gaps and taking out all the caps. Second draft, here we come.

In the meantime, there IS the weekend . . . have a great one!