Halalujah!!!

by Brittany Geragotelis

So, I did it!

Saturday, I finished writing my sixth book, Painless. It ended up being 258 pages, 25 chapters, 77,505 words and 4 months worth of writing to get a completed manuscript. Whenever I finish writing a book, I take a deep breath and give myself a moment to appreciate the huge accomplishment I've made. Because it is. Not a lot of people can say they've written a novel.

And it's a lot of work....especially when there's no guarantee that anyone's ever going to read it. But for me, it's something I'm driven to do. I write all day at American Cheerleader and then I go home at night and write for an hour or an hour and a half (usually between 10PM and 12AM). Trust me, part of me would much rather go home, sit on my couch, watch TV and play Spider Solitaire. No one wants to do more work when they get home at the end of the day. But I've tried not writing....and it just doesn't work for me. Before long, I start getting the itch to create, to tell the stories that pop into my head, and I just have to put fingers to the keys.

I truly feel like my gift of writing was given to me for a reason and it would be selfish not to utilize it. I think the story ideas that burrow their way into my head aren't necessarily mine, they're something that the universe wants me to get out there. But even though I write these books because I have to, I still have that underlying desire for people to read them and enjoy them. My ultimate goal is to create something that will move people.

Now that I'm finished with the first draft, I'm jumping straight into editing. I need to go back and make sure the story is consistant...and most importantly that it's a story worth telling. Then, once I'm done with this revision, I'll be sending it out to my faux-agent to take a look. She seems pretty psyched to read it and I'm really hoping it's what she was looking for. If not, I do have a few contacts at Little Brown that I may hit up...

5x5,
B.