I started writing this manuscript in the fall of 2007, when I was still living in DC. Even though I was a professional writer in my day job, I needed something more and le livre was a welcome release from the very dull writing I was doing from 9-5. I continued working on it all through 2008, finally finishing a first draft of it in July, just before buying a house and getting married. At the beginning of this year, I went back and started revising it. Plotlines were thrown out, new characters introduced, language changed. When I finished the second draft, I felt good, yes, but I knew there was still more to go. So I gave it to other people to read and they came back to me with very good ideas and criticism, and I set to work on this draft. Now, although I’m sure it will undergo more editing someday, I feel like it’s as good as I can get it.

And, just to show you how glamorous my life is, when I finally put my pen down, pumped my fist in the air (not unlike Bender in the final scene of The Breakfast Club), and grinned a goofy grin, I heard my cat heaving, a sure sign that something disgusting was about to happen. So I rushed over to him and put a blank sheet of paper underneath him and he puked up half-digested stalks of catnip all over it. I hope that’s not symbolic…

I also gave le livre to three people to read. When I handed it over to the first person, I felt really terrified for half a second, like, “No! My baby! Don’t take her away from me!” But then I got over it, and handed it over, and thought, “Well, that’s that. No more control.” And isn’t that the point of writing, anyway? To share it with the world, not hide it away in some desk drawer or, in this century, in some folder on a desktop?

I’ve gotten good preliminary feedback from them, and will be discussing it in more depth with them soon. But can I say that I breathed a huge sigh of relief that none of them – and all of them are smart, opinionated people – think that there are major problems with it? I know I still have work to do on it, and what they think will probably be different from what a prospective agent or editor thinks, but still. I’m feeling pretty good.

So good, in fact, that I have started inking out a few more ideas I’ve had for projects after this one. One of them is a story I originally started writing before le livre, then got so interested in one of the characters that I ended up switching and writing a whole book about her (the main character in le livre). The other one came to me a few months ago, and while I really like the story, I’m not sure about it. It centers around a female high school athlete, and I’m not sure if that’s marketable. I know you should write what you love and not worry about the market or popularity, but I have a couple ideas bouncing around in my head right now. If one is going to be less marketable, maybe it makes sense to focus on the other one?

Whatever feels right, I suppose. We’ll see where things lead.

All of this is making me want to really work on my book when I’m not in the garden gathering lettuce for my dinner salad or cooing over the marigold patch. Luckily for me, I have a six hour layover tomorrow in the lovely Philadelphia airport before I get on an overnight flight to Europe. And although I’m not going to the land of my ancestors, I am going to a country that has perfected food culture and literary culture. I’m sure it will be a wonderful incubator for everything that’s been bubbling under the surface, a chance to reconnect with dear old friends, and the perfect opportunity to get back to the garden, as Joni has encouraged me to do.