I guess with the interruption of a third baby, giving up my job and becoming a stay at home mother and then dealing with the endless stress of having not two, but THREE children kind of makes it easy to forget you started a blog when the impetus to knuckle down and get your book done was upon you. Ironically, said third baby was already in-situ but not yet discovered when I wrote my first - and up until now, only - post. I found out six days later, and promptly declined into a state of panicked anxiety surrounding the how, why, when, of the situation, and got to pondering the enormous question of "what the hell do I do now?!"
The how and why, I was later rational enough to realise I had the answers for, it was the when that truly stumped me. And for a woman who was very determined to get her life back on track, had just begun a new exercise regime and was just about learning to cope with two children, an unexpected pregnancy was not on the wish list, at all. It was not a fun few weeks. Nor was the incredible difference in morning sickness, in contrast with the very mild case of said affliction with my two other pregnancies. Yes...it was a girl this time.
But I knew from the moment I found out, despite a bit of an internal debate on the matter, that I could never give up such a gift, no matter how ill-timed and ultimately devastatingly impactful the gift was to be upon our finances. My little girl is like a ray of sunshine in our lives, and has been since the moment she arrived. She truly was a blessed surprise.
And then we made the delightful mistake of giving her a name that means "playful", a name she has lived up to very well since her second birthday. The fact that she was named after a purple-haired, one-eyed, self-righteous, stubborn and compassionate cartoon character makes it just that little bit worse. If you guessed Leela, from Futurama, then you'd be right. Well, it's not like we actually expected her to become her namesake! But, bizarrely, she has done just that. A true madam in every sense of the word, right down to coveting shoes since she was six months old; something I have never done. It can only mean that she has more of her father's (and by default, his three sisters') genes, and hence will be a true pink and fluffy girly-girl even though her mother is very much not!
Anyway, enough about the, er, distraction. I started this blog to get my name around a bit and keep myself focused on my writing, something it has done very well thus far...not. But although I had totally forgotten about it, I had not forgotten about my book, and in the January of this year, decided it really was high time I finished it. I scrapped nearly everything from the original story, rewrote the plot, scrapped more bits from what I'd written pre-third-pregnancy, and got down to it.
I finished on Saturday, the 20th of October, created my Facebook page for it, updated my Wattpad account with a few sample chapters and started spreading the word to my friends and family. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback and well wishes already, and it's only Monday. Of the few people privileged enough to have gotten a copy gratis, they are apparently hooked and staying up too late because of it. I take this as encouragement to move forward, put it on Amazon and actually start contacting that list of prospective agents I've compiled. Now that is daunting.
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