It’s a bit ironic that I call my blog The Accidental Novelist and I rarely blog about my novel.
It was just easier for me to post a poem or talk about the methods of screenwriting, because the journey of the novel felt so vast. It was this big unexplored thing and I felt less-than-an-expert about it all. To add to my lack of confidence as a novel writer, I would often type the word “shite” instead of “white” (a word that occurs fairly often in the book). Shite, shite, shite… like messages from the beyond.
Someone once told me that in order to become an expert at something, write a book about it. The journey forces you to become an expert. That was the opposite of my thinking, which was that you had to become an expert about something in order to write a book about it. That kind of thinking can inhibit progress.
Now that the final draft of the novel is in sight, the one I’m handing to my copy editor (!), and I’m going to see the first drafts of the cover art next week… it’s time to come out of the closet! Accidental or not, I can now admit that I’m a novelist and not feel like a fraud.
The journey of Brigitta of the White Forest started in 2003, and there have been a tremendous amount of people who have supported me through all the various stages of its development.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thank you all.