Hi friends and happy Wednesday! I am so excited we’re heading closer and closer to Spring. Have any of you seen signs of Spring out and about? I know we’re heading to Rita’s on the 20th for free Italian ice. They do that every year on the first day of Spring. They’re awesome that way.
So far, I haven’t seen any buds or blooms in my yard, but I’ll be hitting the nursery as soon as it’s a bit warmer—sustainably warmer. We are having the weirdest winter. One day it’s nearly 60, the next day we’re below freezing. But Spring is on the horizon, and I’m celebrating wrapping up a novel. I signed off on the final review copy of The Deadly Shallows last month.
The Deadly Shallows was literally the hardest book I’ve ever written. I was dealing with five surgeries in a three-month period (I’m doing well now, thankfully) and my Lupus really flared brain fog. A sustained writing pace I’d done on all my novels, evaporated seemingly overnight. Suddenly it was taking me four to five times longer to manage the same word count. Talk about frustrating!
The editorial process of TDS was long and arduous for all of us. I’m so grateful to be blessed with such an amazing editorial team. And we are very much a team. My lovely copy editor dubbed us Team Dani! I love her. Needless to say, when I signed off on it, I celebrated. I think we all did.
My hubby took me out for a date day. We love lazy car rides through the farmland of Maryland and up to a fun town named Havre de Grace. If you’re ever in Maryland, you should really check it out. It’s situated on the water and there’s a small boardwalk you can go on, and it exudes the feel of a quaint small town—lots of fun shops and restaurants, including The Vintage Café where they have a wonderful Eggs Benedict. It was a great way to celebrate! Now I’m on to a new season with a new series, Jeopardy Falls. The first book in the four-book series will release next summer. I’m so excited to introduce you to a new family, new setting, and heart-pounding adventures.
While thinking back on all the ways we’ve celebrated when I’m completed or launched a book, I thought it would be fun to ask a few of my author friends how they celebrate when they finish a book. So fun to see all the different ways writers celebrate.
Jody Hedlund: “I bake! I’m not a huge cook or baker, but after weeks of not doing much cooking or baking while I furiously write, I’m usually starved for some home-baked goods.”
Jaime Jo Wright: “I fill my coffee cup, sit back, take a deep breath of thankfulness that God has once again allowed me to walk this journey for however long, and then I rest. Usually followed by ransacking my TBR pile and internally screaming “I CAN JUST BE A READER NOW!” which is the heart of all writers. Just read.”
Becky Wade: “I celebrate turning in a book with time off! I typically take an entire month of vacation to rest, relax, and travel with my family. I look forward to that celebration all year long. I think in this writing life it’s very important to pause and honor the wonderful moments the Lord gives. Counting my blessings is one of the things that’s enabled me to continue year in and year out down such a creatively challenging path.”
Julie Klassen: “After I turn in a manuscript, I usually celebrate by cleaning my long-neglected house. Then I often plan a few-day getaway with my long-neglected husband.”
Lynn Blackburn: “I try to schedule a massage within a week of finishing a novel because my neck, shoulders, and back are always a mess after so much writing! But I also treat myself to something that is not necessary, but that makes me smile. After I finished my last novel, I purchased a leather backpack that I’d been thinking about for a couple of years. Most recently, I finished a novella and bought a new traveler’s notebook to carry my bullet journal in. It’s a lovely soft bluish/green leather, and it makes me happy every time I touch it.”
DiAnn Mills: “When I finish a book, I take a deep breath and treat myself to shopping. That shopping can be for a personal item, Hobby Lobby, or off to purchase flowering plants for the yard.”
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these celebrations!
Reader Question: How do you like to celebrate an accomplishment or special occasion?
Blessings,
Dani
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Congratulations on finishing another book, Dani! Especially under such challenging circumstances!
For so many years, every penny I made went to pay college tuition, room/board, etc. for our four kids, but we always managed to eek out enough to buy pizza in celebration of another book finished. Like Becky Wade, I always try to take at least a month off between books, so that is part of my celebration. And like Jaime Jo Wright, that month off includes lots and lots of reading…not for research, not for endorsement, but just for the sheer pleasure of it!
So thankful your health is on better footing these days, Dani, and I’m so impressed that you fought through the fog to create a book that I’m sure is going to be wonderful. Such perseverance! You inspire me, my friend.
Congratulations on your book! I am in awe of all authors, because I know I could never do what you do. I am a READER only and get so much joy from the hard work authors put in.
At this stage in my life I can’t do much traveling, which would be a wonderful way to celebrate. In 2009, after the birth of our grandson, we took 6 weeks to drive from Virginia to California to see him. We took a northern route out and southern route home, managing to see such wonderful places as Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, San Antonio, the Alamo, and Graceland, as well as having a fantastic visit with our daughter, new baby, and the rest of her California family. Now, I bake and love to surprise friends with cookies, fudge, and cakes.
What amazing challenges you faced and overcame! Praises that you are now in good health and praying that will continue.
Like some of the other comments I am happy you are doing better physically. God be praised!
Also like some other comments I am in awe of your gift for writing and the pleasure all authors bring to readers as myself. Thank you for exercising that God given gift for all of your readers.
Celebrations tend to be visits to family now or just time on the patio out back but in the past we did more travel abroad and long visits in the summer to our cottage in the midwest.
I turned, well, let’s say I had a birthday.
To celebrate, hubby asked me where I wanted to go.
A little over 2 hours is a town where Russell Stover
has a factory and a store.
So off we went.
I won’t need to buy chocolate for a very long time.
Praise to the Lord for watching over you.
I buy lots of books