So, because of a faulty laptop, I ended up handwriting my book. Anyone who knows me understands that I hate handwriting ANYTHING, especially stories. There are three reasons for this:
-I type faster than I write
-editing is a nightmare
-my handwriting is awful
Seriously, it's terrible. If I do not reread what I've written within a couple of weeks, I won't be able to decipher what it says. So, I'm currently typing the handwritten pages into the computer, and it is taking forever. For. Ev. ER! At my last estimation, this thing is clocking in at approximately 125,000 words.
Did I mention that the laptop I am using is a oaner, and that the letter "L" only works half of the time. (By the way, I left that typo in as an example of my "L" problem.) Part of the problem is that I write better when I am not at home. We used to go to town twice a week, for shopping and doctor appointments. Brenda and I would always stop somewhere for a bite to eat, take out our notebooks (I actually used loose-leaf paper on a clipboard), and write for an hour or so.
Now that BOTH of our vehicles are not working properly (electrical problem with the truck and a blown strut on the car), I am always at home, surrounded by distractions. I planned on having this latest book done and published by July of this year, one year after publishing Four From Below. But this thing is eating me alive. It's grown from a nightmare I had a few years ago, to a short story idea, to a book idea, to (apparently) my magnum fucking opus.
Seriously, 125k? What the hell happened?
And I still feel like I didn't tell the whole story. It nags at me. Which is why I'm ADDING content as I type, instead of editing things out. Not good. Hopefully, I'll have it finished and published by the end of this year, but even that seems ambitious at this point. After it's typed up, Brenda will get first crack at editing, then I go over her notes and do my own. Then a third party edits this draft, and so on, and so on.
I just hope it lives up to all this hype and pressure. And a few missing "L's".
Daniel P. Coffman
