Drafts and Ruins

the end that is really the beginning.

This week, I typed the final words of my manuscript. Well. The first draft anyway.

A few Thanksgivings ago, we spent the holiday in Belize with our daughter and her family. One afternoon we visited the Lamanai ruins, where the jungle presses in close and ancient temples rise above the canopy. The High Temple, tallest Mayan ruin is closed to the public, but the Temple of the Masks is open to climbing. My family took the climb, while I remained at the base, craning my neck as they grew small.

That’s what finishing my manuscript feels like. The draft is complete, a whole story from beginning to end. To many, that might look like the top of the temple—the moment when the book is ready to be read. But really, it’s more like standing at the base, knowing there is still more to go. The climb ahead is months of editing and drafting and rearranging. And, if I choose to query agents, it may stretch on for years before this book is on shelves.

For those of you waiting on the book, thank you.

 The climb continues.