It is FINISHED!!

I've had a lot of people over the past couple of weeks ask me if I was going to finish the book on time. The answer was that I honestly didn't know. Some days I thought I would make it. Others, I started thinking about how I would let people know that I didn't..... I contemplated sending in the first 16 chapters, as I knew that they were closest to completion.

And then suddenly everything came together!  That happens sometimes. It doesn't always, but I'm grateful when it does. Chapters suddenly click. I put in several really long days this week. And by Wednesday, I knew I would finish by my self-imposed deadline. I worked until 12:45 am on Thursday and was almost there. By Friday morning, I was finishing the final touches, putting together the front matter and table of contents. By Friday afternoon, I was shipping it off to my editor. She was delighted to hear from me (and yes, Deborah, if you are reading this, I'm talking about you!).

I found that I really underestimated the length of the manuscript. The chapters were all separate files, and I hadn't stopped and added them up. I thought it would be around 400 pages. Instead, it weighed in at a whopping 605 pages!! No wonder I've been working like a crazy woman. (The first edition of the book was only about 250 pages. Some of the length of the new edition has to do with how much new research there has been in this field.)

Yes, I'm pleased with final product.....I'm also pleased that I have finally (finally!!) finished it.

So there you have it. How to write a book in (about) 50 days. I leave for Spain on Wednesday morning. And I can do so knowing that I've taken this big to-do off my list.

Thanks for coming along on this journey. It's amazing how effective having the public deadline was for me. And I thought I would keep this blog open as the book moves through production, so you can get an idea what that process is like.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. And thanks again for all your support. It made this process seem a little less lonely.  :-)  I will keep you posted on the final product.

Telling the Story--with Research Findings

The book is coming along nicely. I've been working like a crazy woman over the past week. After finishing the first draft of the first 16 chapters, it was time to print everything out. At this point in the process, you really have to. There are only so many edits that you can make on your screen. For the next round of edits, I worked with mostly "broad strokes." This means that I was trying to make sure all the content was where it needed to be.

Many of the chapters were in pretty decent shape, so I didn't have to do much to them, aside from a few minor edits. I love those.

There were other chapters that required major surgery.  I had content that was in completely the wrong place--sometimes, even the wrong chapter. I had material that was redundant. And I had a few things that just didn't make any sense.  They had to go.

By the time I got to the second the round of edits on hard copy, things were working a lot better. I still found sections that needed to be moved, but there were only a few of them.

Part of the task at this point is making the information I have in the chapters "tell a story." That can be a real challenge when all you have to work with are research findings. But to keep your readers interested, those findings need to be in some type of logical sequence. That means grouping similar studies together. It means using lots of headings and subheadings, and putting in transitions. It also means thinking through how you would "say" this to someone who is interested.

When you remember the basics of storytelling when you write, you increase the chances that someone will read--and understand--what it is you have to say. And frankly, writing this book is WAY too much work to do to have no one read it.

More later. But now it's time for lunch. :-)