(Work-in-) Progress Report: Clyde

Word count (to the nearest thousand): 44,000
Status: Almost finished!
Attitude: Calm

After much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’m happy to report that Clyde is pretty much done (for now, at least). He even has a title! (It’s DUEL/DUET.) You KNOW my manuscripts are almost ready once I come up with one of those:)

This manuscript has made me dig deeper than perhaps I ever have, not because I had problems with the words but because I had problems with myself. There were days and even weeks when the last thing I wanted to do was stick my butt in that chair and write, when my own voice annoyed me and all I wanted to do was roll over and admit defeat. But writers write (especially if they want to get published someday), so I powered through it. I hope I’m stronger because of it. I hope Clyde is, too.

Someday, I’ll write a summary to stick up there with Steve’s, but right now, I’m kind of busy. (Also, I’m still basking in the knowledge that I don't HAVE to write a summary if I don't want to.) In the meantime, check out this post for a few more details if you’re curious.

I have no idea if Clyde will sell. As this post from Bryan Bliss and Boys Don’t Read so eloquently puts it, the publishing industry owes me nothing. Sometimes I’d like to think they do, but they don’t. So I’ll trim my fingernails (the writer’s equivalent of rolling up your sleeves), stick my butt in that chair, and write another manuscript. And some days I’ll think I’m a talentless hack, and other days I’ll wonder why no one’s handed me a million bucks for the honor--nay, the privilege--of putting my words into print (wink, wink), and hopefully, I’ll get there. I’m still not sure where there is yet, but I’ll know it when I see it.

Or maybe it’s been all around me this whole time.