I have been writing and re-writing my current novel since I was a junior in High School… so that’s about 8 years or so now. When I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 I made it a goal of mine to finish my story in the form of a movie script. I accomplished that goal, but I was more than a little upset. Even though I have always pictured my story to be a movie, I was devastated by how much of my story I had to cut out to fit the confines of 120 minutes of screen time. So I once again declared “by the end of the year, I will finish my book”. It of course has never happened.

Every year I vow to finish my story, but unless knowing it cover to cover in my head counts, then I never have. This year, my husband and I started college together. In our first class we were supposed to provide an example of a detailed goal. What specifically we would like to accomplish, how it can be accomplished, and when exactly will it be accomplished by… Out of habit I chose my story, but I gave myself a wide birth. I declared that I would finish my story by my 27th birthday, giving myself 1 1/2 years to do it. I quit my full time job in September. I promised my husband that since I was not working full time now, I would commit equal parts of my day to writing my book and working my part-time job. So I drafted a new goal. If I could commit to writing 1/2 chapter (appx 1600 words) per day, I would finish my book  by the end of October. So today is October 26, I have 3 chapters to go! I’m supposed be further along, but we went on vacation and I slacked for a week. I’m so excited to be almost done that I have been over writing lately, so I’m sure I’ll still make my deadline.

Now this is not the “let’s send this to be published” version of my book, this is the “Hey, I wrote every chapter” version. It has many errors, probably a couple holes that need to be addressed, and my word count is nowhere near my final goal (120,000) but the story will be complete. I am a perfectionist at heart, so I would often start re-writing my book around chapter 10. I always knew it could be better. My story is completely different now then when I started writing it 8 years ago… but I mean, I was 17 back then, and now I’m 26 and married, life is different.

To go from consistently starting over to having the complete story is a miracle for me. I look forward to letting a couple trusted friends and family review my story and let me know where it needs work. Most of all, I’m excited to see if my story affects others the way it has me. Yesterday I wrote the scene where my main character dies, it is no secret, it is declared outright near the beginning that death is expected. To write the actual scene and the characters present and how the death affects them was beautiful, to me. It moved me nearly to tears, but as the creator of the story I can watch it like a movie in my head, so I look forward to knowing if I translated the emotions in my head correctly to paper.

It is bittersweet to be reaching the end, but I am proud of myself. I’m trying to commit to blogging daily and to be honest with my struggles. I am imperfect and sometimes I don’t feel inspired enough to write, but I assure you that I love it. There are two things in this world I know that I am meant to do. One is to be a mother and a wife, the other is to share my book with the world. Will my story bring my fame and fortune? Chances are it will not. But how I can I have a story in my heart for so long that is so important if it is not meant to be shared?

If your looking for tips and tricks on how to be a great author… you probably don’t want to listen to me. I’m untrained, I just like to write. If you’d like to join me on my journey to achieve my writing dreams, stay tuned!