Yup, it’s finished…Now what? Frankly, now’s the time to rejoice I don’t have to sit in front of the computer and bang out my thoughts. Now, is time to close it and let it rest in it’s pool of words… not opening it again for at least a couple weeks… no really.

No. Really.

People who haven’t completed their first novel yet won’t really grasp this concept, so I thought I would talk about the reason it’s important to allow your manuscript to rest.

When I completed my first novel, THE RINGS OF TIME, and took my first pass after it was done… I really struggled. I had been on this journey with these characters for five years! And though I loved my book… I was just tired.

I cried… a bit. It was embarrassing. I cried because I struggled with what I was reading, finding fault in everything and after deleting 12 or so pages of the first twelve pages, I had a friend tell me to close the MS and not come back until I could read it with fresh eyes.

Eisley say what?

Fresh eyes? What exactly does that mean? These are the eyes God gave me, how can they be fresh?

But, because I was so frustrated and I loved my MS dearly, I did it in hopes that I would not want to burn it in the closest fire.

A week went by, tempted to open it my friend said, “Back off Eisley!”

Good friend.

Week two. Week three. Week four. Month two… It was summer, so I had a bit more to consume my time…

I think at the end of month two (and after I had written some UNSEEN CHRONICLES, some RUNAWAY CHOICES, blogs and other things) I felt it was time to reopen the MS.

With a quick call to friend, “Yes, Eisley… you may open your MS now.”

*Squeeeeeeal* then *panic* in that order…

Would I really feel differently about my MS? Would I really have new FRESH eyes for this story? Would… would… what if… but how… plaguing thoughts.

“Just open the freaking thing…” Says friend. Good friend.

I peeked into the file, wondering what I might see. When I closed it two months ago there were black words on a white digital page with no life. No life because they had already sucked all the life from me in the last five years! Peeking into the file, I promptly minimized it, got up from my computer and ran to the kitchen for coffee… drank a full cup, paced around the computer desk, then sat again, tapping my foot wondering if I could really do this. If I would really love it all over again.

Cautiously, I reached for my mouse. The arrow clicked on the toolbar, restored the MS and I began to read the abandoned words on the page.

I read quickly, devouring the text.. I was through the third page when I realized that instead of dull black and white words on a page… I saw people, colors, sounds, smells and… was that dust on my fingers? I inhaled the scents described and gasped… I loved this manuscript!

I think I cried again… I am such a baby. I realized at that moment, my friend was right! Resting was exactly what my manuscript needed.

Dare I say, exactly what *I* needed to see my manuscript in the way it was meant to be seen. Like cracking open a much anticipated best seller… it happened. I loved my manuscript again.

So… RUNAWAY CHOICES will see rest time. Not sure how much; not sure when I will open it again, but it is resting and fermenting a bit.

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