I’ve reached a turning point on this novel I’ve been working on for about seven !#$% years. I realized that all of the difficult scenes are written save one, and that one isn’t necessarily necessary. I’ve sent out a call for first readers and have sent the first eight chapters out into the world to be criticized by some of my brightest, meanest friends. Working on the same project for so long, and rarely was the 100th blank page any easier than the first one. But now when I look at the things that need to be done, it feels like I’ve climed the stairs to the top of a big yellow slide and now I can finally throw my potato sack down for the long, easy glide to the end.I had no idea I was so close because for the last year and a half I’ve been ten-or twenty scenes away from finishing. Just as soon as I would finish one scene I’d realize there was something missing, and my To-Do list would grow. I expect it still will, but none of it feels heavy now, or insurmountable.

2012 is going to be an exciting year for me! If the whole world doesn’t end I’m going to finish this damned novel!

[Image via 2headedsnake: Selena Kimball - From collage novel “The Dreaming Life of Leonora de la Cruz”, 2004 (collaboration with Agnieszka Taborska).]