You know that scene in Shawshank Redemption when the dude breaks out of jail and explodes out of the mire into his freedom on a stormy night? Or was that Raising Arizona!? Anyway, I dug a tunnel for years and now I’m outside. I have a full draft of In the Red. 270 pages, about 70,000 words. Now I get to give it a redraft and send it to my agent. Eek! It’ll be weird to have another human being read it. But–that’s part of the point of writing the bloody things, no?
It’s sitting on my desk all printed out. It’s quite a manly pile of paper. See?
The last thing that’s typed on my computer screen in this photo is, “It’s sitting on my desk all printed out. It’s quite a manly pile of paper. See?” Do you feel like you’re with me in the moment, or what? The photo is all moody and dark because it is currently midnight. The shadowy pot on the left side of the photo contains my desk orchid. Unfortunately, the African violet that was once there is no more. It turns out even elderly cats have a taste for certain types of plant flesh.
A moment of silence for our departed friend, Saintpaulia ionantha.
Since my furry little murderers haven’t touched the living room orchids, I decided to play it safe and get another orchid for my desk. Wanna see?
Pretty sexy, no? It’s a yellowed parchment color with closely packed, bright red dots all over it. It was looming over me as I finished the book. It will surely continue to loom over me as I finish the book again and again, until one day it is printed and I can stop finishing it.
Elena Mauli Shapiro 
Congratulations Elena, I do feel in the moment with you, sharing your joy at having completed this stage. Quite an accomplishment. Take a breather before the redrafting begins to bring fresh energy to the next stage in this birthing process.
Thank you! My current breather from intense writing is buying and building Ikea furniture. After slaving over a bunch of words for so long, it’s nice to do something physical with immediate results!
My first comment on your blog. Better late than never! If In The Red is half as enjoyable as 13 Rue Therese I will be a happy reader! As for me I’m an aspiring writer, still in the Shawshank cell, scraping at the wall with a blunt spoon!!! But I WILL escape. I have a Novella almost completed. Which brings me to my point in writing this in the first place. Here I am sitting in the miserable, godforesaken rain that is a summer in Ireland. To top things off I cant seem to get past a block in mind. No more words coming out! Then my favourite flower appears on yor blog and it cheers me up no end. Plus, it reminds me I am off to the USA for 3 weeks, New York to San Fanciscoby Amtrak in September. And I think, What a Wonderful World. And then the words start coming again. So thanks, Elana, for that little bit of inspiration and good luck with the novel.
Martin C.
PS The previous unedited and uncorrected comment is evidence of the rush I am in. I don’t normally have as many errors in the one paragraph. OOPs. Better be more careful with the Novella!!!!
Martin C
Thank you! Good luck with your tunnel digging. Do not despair–I encountered many blockages myself, but eventually you work through them. Many thanks for reading my stuff!