Here we are again. Welcome back. It’s Friday and time for another Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge post. It’s a blog hop, baby!
Week 15: How I celebrate completing my manuscript
I’m not sure if this means after completing a draft or after it’s been edited and ready to go. Either way, I don’t celebrate like I should, but for now it works for me, and gives me a period of down time after finishing a book.
Upon completion of a manuscript, I’ll take a few days or a weekend to get away from the stories and relax with Netflix, movies, dinner with friends, or take time to read someone else’s book. To breathe.
I don’t celebrate outwardly, but I do celebrate internally at different stages. A sense of pride overwhelms me once I:
- Finish a first draft.
- Send a manuscript to my editor.
- Finish the final edits.
- I RELAX and enjoy the moment after sending it to my formatter.
- FINALLY I’m thrilled yet celebrating subtly after I upload and hit publish.
When my work on a book is finished, I’ll smile and tell my hero and his heroine they are ready to go out into the world. I will literally miss them when it’s over. This is why I write a series. I get to see them again.
One thing I do is give myself a silent praise or a pat on the back when I finish the first draft. I mention it on social media, email or text my friends and family, but other writers understand it better than even best friends. However, family and friends are happy for my accomplishment. After publication and while out, I want to scream, “I published another book!”
Celebration is simple because I feel like I’m on a timeline and need to get the next book started and written as soon as possible. Book sales are my survival. Book writing is my sanity.
With my next book, which is the third book in a spin off series, Canyon Junction: Hearts in Love Series, I DO PLAN on gathering my friends and celebrating together. Oh, and to get a mani-pedi.
Thanks for reading.
This is the time to hop on over to check out the #MFRWauthor Blog to find other participating authors. See ya next time.
Photo credits: Pixabay.
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel 
12 thoughts on “#AmWriting Celebrating in Stages: Farewell My Lovelies #MFRWauthor”
Meka James
My celebration is low key as well. I will post on social media so my writerly friends can see and enjoy the moment with me. I’m trying to make bigger deals out of actually publishing a book. I only have 2 so far, but I want each launch to be a mini celebration. Like you, I do miss my characters, but I can’t seem to commit to a series. Though I am working on a novella for my last one and a spin off with a side character. Not really a series, but close.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
If you’re writing a novella for the second book then plan a spin off with a character from that book, you could almost call it a series. A series does take a lot of commitment, and you need a series bible for sure. Keeping that up takes commitment too. I hope you do celebrate the next time, Meka!
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Cathy Brockman
Great post. I don’t celebrate a finished draft but I think I might make my husband take me out to dinner when I hit publish. Lol
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
It’s nice to do something, even if it’s simple, to acknowledge an accomplishment. Do dinner if nothing else. Have fun, Cathy! I’m trying to finish a draft while going through a bunch of medical tests, and you better believe I will celebrate when this one gets done, but it’s only step one.
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Teagan R. Geneviene
Your pleasure and sense of accomplishment comes through in this post, Mary — whether or not you celebrate as much as you deserve.
I haven’t gotten to that finish line enough times to do more than pass out from holding my breath for so long! LOL.
Great big hug!
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Speaking of breath holding, I do that from the time I send I send it to the formatter until about a month after hitting publish. I should have knots on my head from passing out. (Not literally.) Glad you stopped by. 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach
You’re smart to celebrate, Mary. Sometimes I forget to do that. I just steam ahead into all the other steps to be started, worked on, and completed, plus all the stuff I’ve neglected and the old bear… marketing! Ugh. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Yes, marketing is ongoing anyway so that comes in between everything else on a regular basis. There’s no end. Even taking a couple days off makes me feel like I should be working. It feels wrong not to be.
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Holly Bargo
I want to shout, “Fly! Be free” and toss the manuscript into the air. Unfortunately, the mss isn’t printed, so tossing would be rather detrimental to my livelihood.
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Well, Holly, toss something up into the air just for the joy of doing it. Not the laptop. I get that feeling! 🙂
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Helen Henderson
love the go out into the world. My characters refuse to leave. 🙂
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Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Mine, too, Helen! That’s why they all talked me into writing them a series.
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