1950s School Memoir Closer to Completion

For people who have been following my memoir writing progress over the last year or so, I’m pleased to announce the end is in sight. There have been times when the project has taken back seat to other things in my life and times when I’ve been somewhat neglectful. But now time is running out.

My goal is to have the first draft completed and to my editor by the end of October. This will give her time to work on it and then I’ll have time to do all the necessary rewriting, before submitting it to the publisher at the end of January. This leaves plenty of time for the final product to be ready for the school centenary at the beginning of April.

Today I started working through the chapters from the beginning. Part of this involves editing, part of it identifying where the gaps are that still have to be written. I no longer have the luxury of choosing to work on the manuscript or do something else. For the next five or six weeks the memoir will be top priority, after my teaching commitments that is.

I’ve learned a lot throughout my writing journey. Writing a full length manuscript is not an easy task. There have been times I’d rather abandon it, but fortunately the project means enough to me to see it through to completion. There have been times when my focus has strayed and I’ve written other quite unrelated things.

I’ve been really grateful for the support and encouragement I’ve received from all my online writing friends. This support has kept me going when I may have otherwise floundered. I’ve also appreciated the feedback received, indicating that there may be some readers out there in the wider world once the book becomes a reality.

Bringing a book to completion is quite an exciting process. I have several uncompleted manuscripts tucked away, mainly children’s novels that I feared may never be published. Once this project is finished I intend following up my recent discovery of e-book publishing and completing these books. I have also started planning my next memoir. It is the excitement of moving on to writing this that spurs me on to get this current school memoir completed.

If reading about my progress inspires even one more writer to have a go and believe in themselves, I will be pleased. It’s not an easy task, but writing a full length book is achievable. Do your research, write daily and set yourself a time line. Tell others what you’re doing and keep them interested along the way. Most important of all, keep writing. Never give up. Make your writing dream a reality.