The Long Road
As per usual, I have a bunch of projects up in the air. Apart from the current Tweet_Book, though (which almost doesn’t count, as it’s been part of my daily routine for years now), none of them is a novel I’m writing on my own (I’m co-authoring a couple). Until now, that is.
Starting a novel is always an interesting experience. You know a few things at the outset — a basic idea of your plot, a good handle on your characters, maybe a couple of scenes you want to make sure you work in. But most of all, you know it’s going to be a lot of work, and it’ll feel like forever between the moment you write the first words and the moment you write the last.
It’s my second-favorite time in the novel-writing process, the first being that instant I finish the first draft. At the outset of the process, there are no problems, no plot holes — only possibility. This is before I start obsessing over word choice, before I scan for awkward dialogue tags, before I’ve read each word so many times I develop an irrational hatred of the letter M. (I mean, just look at it, all smug and pointy over there … it’s mocking me.)
But, even with all the problems and headaches ahead, I’m always excited to start. It’s a long road, but it’s one worth traveling. Otherwise, I’d just stay home.
So what’s your favorite part of the creative process? Your least favorite?
47 Echo 
I love when any substantial draft is done and I hear the groan of my old laser printer. I love the time that old thing takes to print a novel because in that time, I clean my desk of all the notes and things I needed to write the novel. (Although Evernote helps that problem these days.)
And then–more than anything–I love when my desk is spotless, with one exception: that freshly printed novel sitting on my desk!
It’s a physical reminder of all the work I did to get there, and few things in the world are as beautiful to me as that crisp stack of pages waiting to be edited.