Authoring and Other Ambiguities

I am writing a book. There, I've finally said it on the world wide web, so it is official and must be true. 

It's a novel, actually. Not the story of my life, although I'm realizing more and more how much life imitates art imitates life, so nuggets of my soul and story are stubbornly embedded in it. But a major influencer is Jane Austen, so it is set in Scarborough, England, in 1829, and includes characters who are very much entwined in each other's lives, for better or worse. And yes, there is a romantic thread, and yes, it is as conservative and modest as Austen. 

I am slowly letting family and friends read different drafts, because I need their feedback and perspectives to make it as great as it can be. May I be vulnerably honest? I really want it to be great - excellent, even - and have it published and make somebody-somewhere's top-10 list. I want it to be important and powerful and relatable and encouraging and mind-shifting and life-changing. I've written a lot of sweet little poems and stories and reflections in my life, and I really didn't care if anyone else read them, but this... this is the gift I want to create and send out to serve the world. 

Here are a few of the questions I get most often, and I still struggle to know how to answer: 

How long have you been working on it? I've had the seeds of the story in my head for probably twelve years - the general premise, the main characters and a few major scenes. Then I took a writing course in the summer of 2020 and that was the push I needed to start developing more characters and a more complete plot. On and off, I worked on the first draft since then and finished it in November 2023. I am currently doing rewrites in what I would call my third draft (which I hope is the last).

How much more do you have to write? I have no idea. I have the core structure of the story and at this point my revisions are not linear, so I am not sure how much more there is to add. My goal was originally 75,000-100,000 words, and I am already in that bracket.

What's the title? My working title all along has been Courage and Creativity, as a nod to some of my favorite Austen novels. But I've had feedback from friends that think it sounds more like the title of a nonfiction, inspirational or how-to book, so I'm bouncing a few other ideas around. 

Why Scarborough? I knew I wanted it to be a port town in England with some interesting history around that time period, and I didn't want it to be one of Austen's locales like Bath. So I did some research and really like the things I learned about Scarborough. I've been able to connect with some librarians and historians who live in Scarborough, too, and they have given me some wonderful information that enriches my understanding of the place and confirms it was definitely the right choice. 

Do you have a deadline? I keep making smaller deadlines for myself, like what I'll accomplish this week or this month or before some significant event like my birthday or a trip. Some of those deadlines I meet, and some I don't, but at least they keep me moving forward. My hope is to have an agent and a final draft ready to show to publishers by the end of this year. Wish me luck!