A Major Milestone Achieved

Do you set goals? Establish deadlines? 

Do you meet those deadlines and achieve those goals?

Well, if so, congratulate yourself! Doesn't it feel absolutely incredibly amazing to realize those accomplishments?

Earlier this week, I accomplished one very BIG goal. It was massive. It was stupendous. It was, without doubt, monumental. 

After six years of writing, revising and editing the manuscript for my memoir (not to mention the emotional roller coaster that came along with the writing process), I completed Draft #4 (yes, number FOUR!).

Back in 2017, I wrote the first draft in eight months, which triggered a complete emotional breakdown. Writing helped me work through what I needed to work through and brought me back out into sunshine. It then took four years to complete Draft #2. For months at a time, I couldn't write a single word. Emotions were either too raw or too overwhelming. About this time last year, in December 2022, right before Christmas, I finished that particular rendition of the draft. At the beginning of 2023, in a burst of motivation and focus, I polished off Draft #3 in six weeks. A selection of girlfriends volunteered to be my Beta readers and offered feedback and insight that I incorporated into the writing of Draft #4. I have written one heck of a lot of words over the past six years!

What makes me feel most proud with the completion of Draft #4 is the state of my emotional health. After tearing apart everything I thought and felt throughout my marriage, and looking at those emotions from every possible angle, and crying a lot of tears and getting really angry, I made peace in the end. With myself, with the man I married, and with the marriage itself. Today, after typing out thousands and thousands (and thousands) of words on the keyboard, I feel completely healed. Let me tell you, that is no small feat!

I also feel completely exhausted and emotionally numb at the moment. I poured my heart and my soul into those digital pages and fully admit that my tank feels pretty empty right now. But I know this state is temporary, and I will regain back my joie de vivre! I just have to take the time to replenish myself by doing things that make me feel good (like going for long walks in nature and taking photos of what I see).

So, what's next?

Well, Draft #4 was emailed to two different publishers who both voiced keen interest in my story. It is now in their hands to read, review and decide if my ground-breaking memoir is something they would like to get out into the world. I'm optimistic that a book contract will come out of this (which means, for certain, more editing and re-writing).  For now, however, it is a wait-and-see kind of game while they take the time to read through my 104,000 words!

My new goal for the memoir is to have it published before I turn 60. That gives me a year and a half to make this next dream come true!

So please set goals for yourself, and then do everything possible to turn those goals into accomplishments. 

'Cuz it's one heck of a feeling when you do!