Sanity savers for finishing my first draft (aka how I spent most of my sabbatical)

The idea for the novel I finished drafting on my sabbatical first came to me in 2011. Tucked into a booth at Demolition Coffee in Petersburg, Virginia, I was overcome with the need to record it somewhere, to not lose it, so I pulled out my work notebook and wrote the first three paragraphs of what I'm now calling Thistledown. It wasn't until a year and half later that I carved out any significant time to advance the story further than that.

It was such a significant portion of my sabbatical (and writing stories such an integral part of who I've always been) that I want to share a bit of what it's currently about and a few of the "tools" that kept me motivated and inspired. The copy below is my initial take on what you would read on the inside flap or back cover, followed by what I'd tell you if I had to do it in 140 characters. Suggestions for reworking these are welcome. Collaborative copy editing, FTW!

At its heart, Thistledown is about getting past all of the prickly barbs we erect to protect ourselves and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. Cassie is a 30-something Baltimore native struggling to truly connect with the people and things around her. Born into a tight-knit family with a propensity for secretiveness, she has made a habit of keeping everyone, including those closest to her, at arm's length. Her struggle to deal with her grandmother's decline reawakens an interest in the family history, and old family secrets threaten to surface. Upon discovery that one of her grandmother's old cameras can capture images from the past, she finds herself thrust into a 120-year old mystery at an abandoned mill. As she falls further down the rabbit hole and learns more about the fate of the girls who worked the textile mill, past and present begin to meld, and Cassie finds herself willing to tear down the barriers she has erected in her own life. 

The Twitter-friendly, I just met you on the street version...

A young woman grappling with vulnerability discovers a fantastical camera among her grandmother's things and uncovers an intriguing mystery.

or

Life is full of mystery. A fantastical camera, a 120-y.o. disappearance, and a cast of colorful characters may hold the key to unlocking it.

Okay, 140 character limits are hard! I suddenly want to rail against the invention of Twitter (just kidding...I love you Twitter).

During my sabbatical (which I've started thinking of as a wonderful preview of what retirement could be like), I focused on the last quarter of the book. I was incredibly naive going into it and absolutely underestimated how difficult writing the ending would be. Not only did I want to do a good job weaving all of the different pieces of the story together, I also failed to comprehend the challenge of writing two pretty dark scenes I had planned. To get myself in the mood, I mainlined dark, moody pop/culture.

Listening
Holst: The Planets: Mars, Bringer of War
Lalo: Symphonie Espangole in D Minor, Op. 21-IV 

Watching
Luther, seasons 1 + 2
Sherlock, seasons 1-3

Coffee was also fairly integral to my ability to perform.



When I couldn't make it to the coffee shop, Coffitivity saved my life. I am only slightly exaggerating. It was astounding how much my focus increased once I downloaded this app to my phone.

The other app I used is Evernote. I used to save my research, outlines, etc.

As you can see, I kept it fairly simple. I never used any fancy writing software, though I'm up for hearing why I should. The final thing that really kept me going was Neil Gaiman's voice in my head pretty much telling me to just sit my ass at the computer and write. It was particularly helpful as my mind would wander, and I would start to dream of all of these cool research trips I needed to take.

Even though the first draft is finished, I'm far from done. I've set a schedule for editing what I've currently got so that I can hopefully pass it along to a few people to read and provide cold, hard feedback. I'm committed to seeing this thing through before allowing myself to wander off into a new story.