Unexpected but True

On Sunday, I actually managed to get some writing done in the afternoon. So much so that I was pretty excited to continue after dinner. I was in "The Zone". Steve was even fabulous enough to retreat to the bedroom, rather than try to watch an episode of something on the TV in the living room and distract me from "The Zone".

At about 10 he came out and commented that it was getting pretty late. Zone or no Zone, it was probably time I was in bed. I looked at him and said:

"I'm done."

"Oh good," he replies. 

"No," I clarified, "I'm done. As in, I've finished it. I'm actually done. Written the epilogue and everything."

That's right people! DONE!

Well, first draft done anyway. There is no way anyone is reading this baby yet. There are whole paragraphs that I've glossed over or skipped out, or even left myself a note like "blah blah, write this later". Some things changed between the time I first started writing and how I finished. I fleshed out detail about some characters that I'll need to go back and check matches their earlier descriptions. One of my main characters back story needs a complete overhaul, given when he ends up.  

Yep. I've got a lot of work to do. But I'm excited about it. In some ways, this editing thing is the best part. Where I chip away at the story and make it better, more refined. Give it polish and shape. Make it something that people will actually want to pick up and read. It's long and arduous, and I'm sure I'll want to tear my hair out when I realise that I've got to completely delete things that took me ages to write in the first place, but what I'll get in the end will be totally worth it. 

If this is not what God is like with us, I don't know what is. He is so excited to work away at us, and make us better. Help us to grow and change and be that beautiful thing that he knew was under our rocky exterior all the time. He knows that it's hard, and he shares our struggles when we want to run in the other direction. But in the end, it's worth it. All that growth and pain gives something amazing.