Manuscript for GOOD HOPE submitted to FBWG Great American Novel Contest

I'm going to bed now...

I worked very hard this weekend. I took a crude, cluttered manuscript and hammered it into shape. Then, with the help of many of my Humble Fiction Cafe friends, we took that image and refined it into a beautiful mosaic, selecting each perfect pebble with a discerning eye.

I think that is as close to a physical example I can come for what it takes to write a novel. The story and plot must be cut from the marble of your imagination, but the selection of the individual pieces, the true "word-smithing", is an art of delicate discipline.

For those of you who have followed my blog, let me refer you to my 2008 goals. "Enter a novel contest in February" is an achievement that I can now scratch off the list.

I want to thank my friends for all of their help. Many of them have links to their blogs below, so maybe you can go and visit them as a way of paying forward my blessings and respect to them.

I haven't slept properly since Thursday. I'm looking forward to sleeping tonight, and, at least for the moment, I hope to NOT dream of Tall Ships, the Elissa, or of Good Hope.

That will have to wait for March and NaNoEdMo :)

Gary