Wednesday's WIP's - The Book Job

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Last night my husband and I relaxed in our computer chairs, and started catching up on all the shows on Hulu that we usually watch together but have fallen behind on because of our trip to Phoenix and my obsession with finishing my book. Amusingly, one of the shows in our queue was the Simpsons episode, "The Book Job." The episode is a double parody of the book writing world itself, and the Ocean's Trilogy.

Now, considering I've spent all month desperately writing a book, and I'm a fan of the Ocean's Trilogy, I was dying laughing watching this episode. There are all sorts of references that only make sense to a true bibliophile, and Neil Gaiman even had a considerable role in the episode! 


The best part, however, was watching Lisa sit down and try to write a book and then go off and organize her music collection, play games, attend conferences about writing books, and generally do everything BUT write a book. I kept laughing and saying, "I've done that!" and my husband would shake his head and give me a long suffering, "I know."

The important part, however, is that despite all my distractions, I came to a different ending then Lisa did. She ended up taking the credit for a book that was written by a desperate team in it for the money, having never written anything beyond "Chapter 1" herself. I, on the other hand, have put the first draft of my book to bed!

It was an odd feeling staring at that last page. At the top it says, "Epilogue," and concludes with the incredible words, "The End." I've never actually typed that on a story before. Partially because it always seemed silly on my short stories, but also because this is the first book I've ever completed!

Oh yes, I know I have lots and lots of work ahead of me if I want to publish this thing, but that's not what is important. All that's important today is that I DID IT! I wrote an entire first draft, from page 1 to the Epilogue, of a novel. It's a mess, characters say things that make no sense coming out of their mouths, there are filler bits that are absolute rubbish because I didn't know what else to write, and the grammar and spelling are atrocious. I don't care! I can take care of all of that in January and the months to come.

For today, I'm just excited that this first important step in this journey is over. I am excited to be able to proudly say, "I've written a book." And most of all? I'm ready to sleep. A lot.

~Ruthie~

Ps. Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? How did your book turn out?