Just a few days ago, I received my final galleys for Something About Her. (momentary pause for chocolate toast). When I told my husband, he asked me if I was sick of reading my story yet. LOL I realized that's a good question… and what a loaded answer from an author.
I never would have guessed when writing this story that not only would it need to get approval from publishers, editors, and readers…but that I'd still have to find worth in it after reading it ten times from beginning to end in less than six months. And all this before it's released and just before I jump on the promotion train.
As any writer would I'm sure, every time I read it, I think of things I could change. But overall, I was happy and a little surprised that even now, when I'm completely saturated with it, I still like the story. I love the characters. They still make me smile. (Which is also a relief, considering this is book one in a series about Blythe Willoughby and her siblings. LOL)
But this story has been a long time coming. It's been a learning curve, a tool to grow as a writer, it's been my hope, my dream. I started it almost six years ago, not my first book (that I wrote at the dramatic age of 13), but certainly my first as a more educated writer, one who actually knows what a writer's toolbox is. I imagine it under my desk every day (along with the white and flowered painted hammer I have on my desk, to my husband's everlasting horror.) Sometimes I prop my feet up on it.
But I digress… the story. It's come a long way since it started. And I still have those versions. I have approximately ten sets of "first three pages." All the same characters, but very different (yes, translate that to mean awful)…and a long way from the published version coming out soon. And I think that's why today, as I print out the galleys to read for the eleventh time, I can still look forward to delving into that story again…I can look forward to my person favorite parts in the book (think lemon syllabub and when you get there, that's one of my favorite scenes). Because I know the journey the book has been on and I'm proud of where it ended up.
So if you like to write, how often do you go back to what you finished, after you've read it more times than you thought possible, and what did you find? I'd love to hear your stories.