Friday, March 19, 2010

Final Chapter

So, yesterday, I wrote the final chapter of my work in progress. Woo-hoo! Does that mean I'm finished, done, finito with the rough draft? Of course not! Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, I have to finish the chapter leading up to the final chapter. Yup, you got it, I wrote the final chapter before the next to the last chapter because . . .

I was lost in the Land of Procrastination! I mean, seriously, people, I only had two chapters to write and . . . I couldn't seem to do it. I did everything but write. I immersed myself in a five book series. Read every last one of the books. I started another new book. I went shopping. I watched tv. I did everything except . . . write the final two chapters in the rough draft of my current work in progress.

I have no clue why I was procrastinating. Perhaps I just didn't want to finish the rough. Perhaps I wanted to linger with these characters for a bit longer. Perhaps . . . well, the excuses are many and the reality is I wasn't unhappy in the Land of Procrastination.

So, why the final chapter yesterday? I have no clue. The words just seemed to erupt - Mt. Vesuvius on a bad day - out of me. I went with the flow. I wrote. Final chapter - DONE!

Now, I have to go back and write the next to the last chapter. I hope to get that done this weekend. Hope. No definite plans, just a bit of hope . . . and, sometimes, dear readers, hope is all we have in this life.

S

9 comments:

Claire Dawn said...

Man, I know that feeling. I wrote most of a novel in November 2 years ago, and it took me 4 months to write the last two chapters.

Laundry is never so fun as when you have writing to get done!

Jemi Fraser said...

By a weird coincidence I finished my wip yesterday. The last bit had been eluding me. So I deleted a bunch and started the last bit again. It worked great! :)

Katie said...

This sounds super familiar because I did the same thing with my last WIP - I had a chapter or two to go, and I just couldn't squeeze it out. Finally, I realized that if I mapped it out in a detailed outline, it forced me to continue. And once I started, I couldn't stop, kinda like going to the gym: you don't like going, but once you're there, you love it.

Jody Hedlund said...

Hey, that's progress! You're getting there, slowly but surely!

Elana Johnson said...

Dude, yay!!! There is nothing better than writing THE END. Except for...nah, nothing better.

Anonymous said...

Procrastination is my closest and most hated frienemy.

B.J. Anderson said...

I've done this before. I've even written the last chapter of a book before I begin the book! And sometimes, I procrastinate that last chapter until it's ridiculous. I think it takes some time to stew in my brain so it's just right. Good luck with the second-to-last chapter of your WIP!!! Great post!!

VR Barkowski said...

We're you really lost in the Land of Procrastination? You should have let me know you were planning to visit. I'd have lent you the keys to my condo.

Best of luck on bridging that gap. You know where you've been, and you know where you're going. Should be a piece of cake, right? ;)

The Writers Canvas, Author Elaine Calloway said...

I seem to do the same thing. Don't know what it is about those ending chapters. Hope you can get yours done! I'm hoping to finish my draft by the end of this wkd :)

Elaine