Monday, January 29, 2007

'The End' Never Felt So Good -- Robin

This past Friday was a banner day in DiscoLand! If you took that phrase literally, and actually wrote out a banner, it would read:

Congratulations, Robin! You finally finished your first teen novel!
Now shut up and get back to work.

Yep. Finished it. Done.

Okay, fine. So I’m done with my “first” draft. My friend Mary Hershey likes to refer to the first draft as the “discovery” draft. Which is so cute. But personally, I like to refer to it as my “schwetty” draft (I’m trying to cut back on my foul language…and I love that old Saturday Night Live skit with Alec Baldwin!).

As I sat in the coffee shop writing the very last line of my book, Jay walked in to meet me. “Shhhh! Sit down and don’t speak!” I said as I pointed to a seat across the room. He tucked his tail and hung his head while I finished my final words. Good boy, Jay.

When I finished, I punched myself in the shoulder feeling like I was king of that small section of the coffee shop. “You can come back over, Jay. Now read my last page and tell me I’m a genius.”

I sat across from him and watched his facial expressions, analyzing every eye twitch. He’s very twitchy. Finally, he looked up. Honestly, he looked like he was going to cry, which was the biggest compliment he could’ve given me (other than actually crying and telling me I’m a genius, but I take what I get).

While I know that I have a lot of work to do, it feels insanely cool to know that I actually made it through the whole story…and that the ending feels so good.

- Robin

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

auHey Robin,

This is my second official blog post (the first was on Greg P's). Congrats on finishing your first YA! Keep us posted.

Greg Trine

Vivian Mahoney said...

Congrats! I guess your writing retreat was inspirational! Can't wait to hear more.

Disco Mermaids said...

WOO-HOO Ro-Mo! I knew you could do it. Dang, you write fast, girl! Finish revising quickly, because I'm dying to read it. DYING, I tell you.

Please let me read the finished product before Jay this time...K, thanks!

xoxo
Eve

Disco Mermaids said...

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone!

I'm thrilled to see Greg Trine peeking his head in here. Can't wait to read your next Melvin Beederman book...hilarious stuff!

-Robin

Anonymous said...

Robin, you are a serious ass-kicker! Congrats on finishing your "schwetty" draft. Alec would be proud, I'm sure. Lamy

Painter said...

Congratulations Robin! Now get back to work.

Anonymous said...

I found your site randomly online...Also just finished my first teen novel...I'm a poet, writer, etc. and really love writing YA. Come visit me at www.thelunarbaby.blogspot.com if you want more YA-author company though it seems as if you have some!
:-)