Here we are at the end of October and I think a month or maybe two months ago I promised an update on the book draft I’m writing.

I’m not getting into plot or anything here because I don’t exactly trust the internet and this is a good book idea that I have had for a while and I don’t want somebody else to take it.

And the cool thing about what I’ve done this year by holding myself accountable on this page and by making sure I set aside some time for myself to do creative writing is that it is no longer just an idea that I’ve toyed with on and off for a few years…

…It is pretty much a book.

I say ‘pretty much’ because it’s not done.

It’s a hard process, telling a story that unfolds over about seven months that has only previously lived in my imagination.

But as far as the draft is concerned, it’s like 95% done.

I kind of left a few places in there where I put parenthetical instructions to myself like ‘more background here’ or I kind of just threw a paragraph of summary rather than writing an actual chapter. (This is pretty much the 5% I have left - which happens to be the ending, but if I had to sit down and bang that out in an hour I am pretty confident I can do that. It’s the one part of this that I feel like would flow pretty well.)

I told you in last week’s monthly goal summary that I had pretty much finished the draft.

I let that sit for a bit - I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the advice that you put a piece of writing in a drawer and don’t look at it for a while and then you come back to it ready to edit it with a little less attachment to your writing, but I find that works pretty good - and I planned on printing it out and reading it on paper and making edits.

But this weekend I read it on the computer, and I made some edits here and there, and I added a little to what needed adding to, and I have good news:

It doesn’t suck.

I worried I’d get back to what I knew was a draft and have a lot of work to do to make it coherent.

Or that I wouldn’t like it.

I have less to do to than I was expecting.

I still have a lot to do, but the story itself has turned out pretty much the way I wanted it to.

I got a little emotional reading it at times, and I made myself laugh a couple of times, so I think that’s all good news.

I can be my own worst critic, so the fact that I liked it is probably a good sign.

I think I have one more computer read-through before I print it out and attack it with a pen.

And I kind of wish I was at this stage back in the summer and closer to the finish by now but I think the fact that I still have two months left in the year means I am ahead of schedule with this goal.

I am not exactly sure what’s next.

I thought I was writing a middle-grade book…maybe it still is? I am not quite sure what age group this book is best aimed at.

And I’d really love to not self-publish - I just want someone who is a professional in the book industry to tell me, “Ooh, I love this and I want to be an advocate for it and get it published,” but I know that’s kind of a high hope.

So we’ll see. I’ll explore the avenues and see how to go about bringing this book into the world.

But that’s a 2026 goal.

For the rest of this year, I think I need to make sure I have a draft that is no longer rough - I need to polish it up enough that if someone asked me to see a manuscript I can hand it right over and give them something I am proud of.

Right now I’m close. I’m proud of the work I’ve done.

I think I’m excited for the day when I can share even more of it.