Oh look! A first draft of my second novel, under the tree!

It’s hard to describe the combination of excitement, hope and nausea I felt this week when I printed the first draft of my second novel.  The excitement and hope are self-explanatory.  The nausea, well, that comes from knowing that the novel is at the point, right now, where it might be bad, and I won’t be able to recognize it.  You see, when I have just finished a draft, I am blind to all its many faults.  I just think it’s terrific.  In fact, it may be terrific, but if it’s not, I literally can’t tell.  It’s very odd.  It must be some primal, self-protection thing.  But, when you can’t see the faults, you can’t FIX the faults.

So now the work really begins.  I have to somehow identify the flaws and shape it into a good read.  After another couple of drafts, a trusted editor and beta readers will let me know how successful I was.  Then I’ll make the final fixes, and by that time, when I think it’s a good read, I’ll likely be right.

The sequel to The Crandall Haunting will be published in 2017, and when it is, I hope readers think it’s terrific, too!