I have given myself a self-imposed deadline of May 31 to complete the first draft of my novel. It will be a challenge, but I am tired of feeling like this is open-ended. I'm far enough along to make a concrete commitment to finishing and May 31 it is.

That means I'll probably be slowing down on the blog posts a little. I do have a lot of content I need to post but it will only happen if I have time (and energy) after fulfilling the day's writing goals.

What Next?
I wish I could say that after the first draft is finished I'll be ready to start looking for a publisher. Not so! My first draft is kind of like a big rough diamond–I know it has some gem-quality writing in it but it will take a lot of cutting and polishing to get to the flawless stone.

I'm a jewelry maker, of course I have to use a gemstone analogy!

So my summer will be filled with revisions and re-writing. At the beginning of August, I'll be going to London with my husband to explore all of the locations in the novel. I'll take pictures and write descriptions, and I hope to include a feature on my blog called "Isabel Wilde's London." Many of the locations I'm using I'm already familiar with, but I need to go to each one to ensure they make sense historically. Most of this I can do from home, but I think visiting each location will bring the story to life for me in an important way.

So When Can I Read it?
That's probably a long way off. I will begin looking for an agent as soon as I feel I have a polished manuscript worthy of publishing, which will hopefully be in the fall. After that, there is a degree of luck involved and in addition to querying agents, I will begin writing the second book. One thing I didn't realize when I started this–the process never ends! But that's a good thing, because I love living in this world I've created.