What I Did for the 4th of July
Word of the Week: Dayturnal — The opposite of nocturnal. Informal word for whatever it is that actually describes sleeping at night and being awake during the day.
For the same reason I didn’t get to attend this year’s RWA conference, I didn’t have much of a traditional 4th of July weekend celebration. No camping or cookouts or parades for me. Oh, no—I’m on deadline.
But for working writers, holiday weekends can be godsends. They give us the chance to hunker down for three or four days straight with no (or very few) interruptions. Everybody else is off having fun, so we’re not getting phone calls or e-mails, nobody drops in unexpectedly, & things online are kind of slow & quiet. Yay!
So I hunkered down & worked like the dickens. Waking up early, staying up late…sometimes conking out in the middle of the day without warning… :sleeping Even through the bloody fireworks three nights in a row that were enough to make my head want to explode. :bloody
But all of the stress & panic & complete wonkiness of my internal clock was worth it, because I am finished.
THE BOOK IS DONE!!!
Can I get a woot-woot?! :getdown
Oh, yeah. I meant to blog about that process…scampering toward the Finish Line 
…as I was going along, but I simply did not have the brain capacity. Seriously, it was all I could do to remember to brush my teeth in the mornings. And some days, I’m not sure I even did that! :que
To recap, though, it went something like this:
Bopping along, writing on a regular basis at a decent pace. 
Look up suddenly & realize I’m not quite as far along as I probably should be & that the book is due in five minutes! 
OMG, OMG, OMG, I’ve got to do something!
:bloody
No, not that.
No, not that, either. (Although it was tempting. *vbg*)
Maybe a bit of this, though: 
No, no. Buckling down & getting the job done seemed the better way to go. So I did. :doh
And let me just say, the book is AWESOME!!! So funny that I can plug away for so long, knowing I’m on the right track but not really feeling as though the story has that :bigwow factor.
Then I’m done & let it sit for a couple days before going back for a final polish & read-through…&—BOOM!—it’s fabulous.
I had actually forgotten a couple of earlier scene & even had myself getting a little weepy as I read over the end. That’s got to count for something.
Now to turn in “Dynasties: The Kincaids” – Book 4 to Editor C & see what he thinks. He’d better love Kara’s & Eli’s story as much as I do, though, or I may have to reconsider a couple of those earlier options like or .
Comments
30 Comments • Comments Feed
Jane says:
Congrats on finishing the book, Heidi. :jump :hippie :getdown
On July 11, 2011 at 3:34 am
Heidi says:
Thank you, Jane! And congratulations to you for grabbing the Golden Halo this morning. :angelme
On July 11, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Donna says:
Congratulations on finishing the book. Sounds a lot like giving birth without the mess.
On July 11, 2011 at 6:53 am
Heidi says:
Thanks, Donna! But who says it’s not messy? LOL :argh
On July 11, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Paula R. says:
Give the girl a WOOT WOOT!!! Congrats on finishing the book, Heidi!!!
Peace and love,
Paula R.
On July 11, 2011 at 8:27 am
Heidi says:
Thanks, Paula! Definitely a WOOT WOOT! And a big, relieved Wheeeeeeew. :howyoudoin
On July 11, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Hollie says:
Woot Woot!!!
I had no doubts whatsoevah!!!
and Im glad that no one got hurt in the process!! :howyoudoin
now its just one step closer to being in my hands!!
WootWoot!!!!
On July 11, 2011 at 10:14 am
Heidi says:
Who said nobody got hurt? :spikey I mean, mental & emotional scarring have to count for something, right? :ROFL
Seriously, tho, thank you very much. Very happy to have this one done & know it turned out exceptionally well. Can’t wait for it to hit the shelves now! :babybook
On July 11, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Jessica Lemmon says:
Yay! I haz huge celebrashuns for you! :getdown :flag :jump
And, extra kudos for using my word of the week, WONKY! I latch onto certain words and use them ad nauseum sometimes. I’m not sure why. But it habit that is, well, a bit wonky. :lildev
On July 11, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Heidi says:
I love the word “wonky”; use it all the time. I can even tell you where I first learned it…from a SNL skit long ago where Mike Myers played the little British boy Simon. He was in the bath with that Gilbert girl from Roseanne & they were talking about her wonky eye. :ROFL
Our very own Darling Paula recently re-introduced me to a word I want to start using more often, too: lickable. I suspect I will find this one especially accurate on Wednesdays (a.k.a. Happy Hunk Day). :wink
On July 11, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Jessica Lemmon says:
OMG! :ROFL I started using it when I drew a cartoon frog with my niece’s sidewalk chalk and said, “Man, his left eye is wonky.”
On July 11, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Jessica Lemmon says:
*edit* it’s a habit.. *end edit*
On July 11, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Anne says:
Congrats!
You have a male editor….for a romance?!? Interesting. What differences have you found between male and female editors?
On July 11, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Heidi says:
Thanks, Anne! I actually have 2 male editors…& 1 male agent. It took some getting used to at first, but now it seems completely natural & I love working with them all—male or female. :cool
On July 11, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Leanne Banks says:
Congrats Sweetie Pie! Now for your time of “Jubilee”!:) Enjoy Enjoy!:) xo, Leanne
On July 11, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Heidi says:
Thanks, Leanne! You know how this feels, right? I’m in that strange in-between place where I cannot believe I managed to pull off another whole book…& am pretty sure I can never do it again. LOL :bart
Btw, this was a Desire continuity story & I ALWAYS think of you while working on a continuity. If you don’t already know why, I’ll remind you the next time we get together. :wink
On July 11, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Laura J. says:
:chick :angrychick so seeing this today (and a couple of other things all in the last 30 mins!!) has made me :cool !!! (well except I’m getting ready to head out the door and go to work with the heat index of 113 degrees. That’s gonna make me a little —–> :knock )
On July 11, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Laura J. says:
hmmmm that didn’t post the way I typed it. Weird very weird so let me try this….
:chick = me happy dancing for you
:angrychick = me yesterday and earlier today then
:cool is because I hear you finished the book and I also got some very good/cool news all in the last 30 minutes!!!
:knock = me going to work (in a hot concession stand) in 113 degree heat index.
On July 11, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Jessica Lemmon says:
:ROFL = me laughing at your awesome explanations
:lildev = thinking what that concession stand will be like for you! ugh!
:flip = and this is simply because I want pancakes, but alas, am dining alone tonight. Is it reasonable to make a full on pancake b-fast for one?!
:eats
On July 11, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Heidi says:
I’m with Jessica…your explanation is too cute, Laura. And thank heavens for the = sign, huh? Use it all the time myself. :wink
Jessica!!! I’m getting ready to make pancakes! Or, well…I’m trying to talk myself into it. Got some blueberries in the fridge that are just screaming to get into some flapjacks, & have I mentioned how much I loooooove syrup? Having the same “pancakes? for dinner?” discussion w/ myself, but I think the griddle is going to win. :flip
On July 11, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Jessica Lemmon says:
*looks at clock* Think I can make it to you from Ohio and back in time for work in the a.m.?
:spikey
Yeah. Me either.
But now that I’ve brought up pancakes, I have a feeling my griddle is gonna win too… I think I have some chocolate chips to drop in them and peanut butter to smear them with too. Yay, pancakes for dessert- erm, dinner, I mean DINNER.
:cupcake
On July 11, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Heidi says:
Oooh, chocolate chips. How do you think choc chips & blueberries would taste? :spaghetti
I’ve never had peanut butter on pancakes, tho. Is it good? (I kinda think I should save my pb for bananas & homemade Reese’s Cups…& take advantage of an excuse to use syrup. :eats )
On July 11, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Jessica Lemmon says:
Def! Blueberries and chocolate go well together! I just made b-fast “bars” that have cocoa and blueberries in them and they are NOM. :flip
And the p-butter thing, yeah, my step-dad introduced us kids to that pancake topping when he married my mom. I was skeptical, but tried it. Now one of my faves! :cookinme
On July 11, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Heidi says:
Hey, we both have good news to be happy about today. Yay for us! :claphat
But the concession stand thing…no, thank you. Not even if they let me drink my weight in Slurpees! :drinkme
On July 11, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Hollie says:
please notice that our LJ didnt tell us WHAT shes going to be selling in the concession booth……. :mistress
:ROFL
On July 11, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Laura J. says:
Oh aren’t you the funny one. But now that you mention it….I sold a lot of “hot dogs”!!!! :angelme
On July 11, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Hollie says:
:ROFL :ROFL :ROFL
On July 12, 2011 at 11:23 am
Shadow says:
Congrats Heidi!!! :claphat
Kudos to you!!! (Loved your post lol)
On July 11, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Heidi says:
Thank you, Shadow—for the congrats & for enjoying the post. Hmm, that didn’t sound quite right. I think what I mean is thank you for the congrats…& I’m glad you like the post. Yeah, that’s better.
Just finish book. Brain not work right yet. :argh
On July 11, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Laura J. says:
Dang it. Now I want pancakes!
Me= :eats
On July 11, 2011 at 9:07 pm