Put Down Your Pen

Time is Up

Here’s something I know nothing about. I’m going to be facing it this year, soon, in fact. It’s when do I say a story is over? When do I stop writing? When do I say, “I am putting this to bed.” When?

I don’t have a problem with the pieces I write at Medium. I have gotten accustomed to writing short pieces, articles that are 300 to 1,000 words or longer, but not that long as to edge into the 2,000-word long length. Occasionally, but I’ve learned people shy away from reading longer pieces. Actually, to be truthful, sometimes they shy away from my writing no matter what length it is.

I figured many people were reading things on their phones. There is just not that much room to read things on a cell phone. Also, folks are interested in taking stabs at what they are exposed to on the internet, like with Tik-Tok or Facebook. There are just no long posts there.

I could also start talking about people’s attention spans, but that sounds unfriendly to me, so I won’t mention it.

In any case, the stuff I write on Medium is short. Certainly, when I edit, I add stuff. I delete stuff. Lately, I’ve come to leave most of my pieces alone until the next day when I can have a fresh look at it. I’ve gotten used to it, but at some point, I call it done and publish the piece.

What I am facing now with the books I am writing is that I go into a chapter a year or so later to edit. Same sort of editing that I do at Medium with my smaller articles, except more time has passed. “Wow! That’s misspelled. Fix it! Oh, that sounds awkward. What about that? Remember how that was so important? How could you have forgotten? Put it in.”

This is a living, breathing book. It has a pulse. In and out. It is a creature. Not a scary one, just a story that occasionally will decide to do something other than what I had planned in the beginning. It does not matter that the book is about getting your first job and what to do once you’ve got it.

Actually, the original project was to write 30,000 words. I had too much to say and realized, eventually; it was big enough for two 30,000-word books. Except, I wasn’t done talking, and now it is three books. Three sounded like a nice cosmic number. It suited the psychically aware part of me. It just felt right.

I am finishing up the middle book now. As of this point in time, I need to add another 10,000 words or so. I’ve already settled on what should go into the chapters. I just need to talk about the subject matter more. That does not feel daunting. Back in the day, I could write 10,000 words in a day or two. It’s not what I am writing now, but I know I can do it.

I think maybe I could give myself a deadline. By the end of April, I will be done with fresh writing, and by the end of May, I will be done with editing. I am actually editing now as I write fresh. I suppose that could be why things have slowed down so much. It is work essential to the middle book. Or, I should say, books.

Then, I will write the front matter and the back matter, prepare the social media posts, get a website up for my books and make covers. Then, I will publish it to KDP and cross my fingers. So, there is still a ton of work to do.

But when do I say they are finished books? When do I make the decision to wave to them as they get on the bus for their first day at school? When do I say, “Have a nice day. I’ll see you at dinnertime.” When do I say, “Call me if you need money.” Forevermore, these books will be my kids. They came from the heart of me. My throat is actually aching right now.

Let’s end this now.

Thanks for reading.