I finished a book!

And it’s only taken me two years, two months and three days. Well… seven years and nine months if you count the last book I actually finished writing, which incidentally never got to see the light of day.

It’s no secret that I’ve been struggling with writing. I thought I’d have more time to write when I started living alone, but whoo boy was I wrong. What nobody tells you about working a full-time job and managing your own household all by yourself is you just never have time for anything. The nine-to-six life is not ideal for a writer. By the time you crawl back to your apartment you’re just too exhausted to do anything that requires oiling the cogs of your tired brain even further. All I want to do is have my dinner, a nice cup of tea and lose myself in a completely mindless activity (usually Netflix).

Writing is not the only aspect of my life that’s suffering. I have 155 unread books on my shelves. I have a whole trunk of ink bottles and calligraphy supplies that are collecting dust. My inbox has over +1000 unread emails and I’m scared to go through them. And this blog is just… cobwebs all over, I swear.

But anyway. There will be a time for a life update later (if any of my followers are still hanging around enough to care haha). But for now… I FINISHED A GODDAMN BOOK.

I cannot begin to describe the overwhelming relief that washed over me the moment I wrote “The End”. I don’t care if nobody actually includes these two words in books anymore, but they gave me a sense of finality that I’ve been craving for the longest time. I actually don’t even know if I like the ending, but I’ve decided I’m going to avoid looking at the finished manuscript for at least two months before I put on my critique cap… give it some fighting chance and all, you know?

But where are my manners? Let me introduce this book to you. MAIL ORDER THIEF is a contemporary novel about this guy, Levi, who wants to rob a bank. He doesn’t feel he can do it alone, so he requests an accomplice. On Craigslist. A girl name Hannah answers his request, and she is everything he isn’t looking for in a partner. As they grow closer, however, they start to help each other in ways years of therapy hasn’t benefited either of them. Will they actually go through with the robbery? Will they be successful? What dark secrets are they both harbouring?

Sorry about that bad excuse for a summary, but I haven’t gotten around to writing a proper one yet haha. But there you have it – my newest child! I’m hoping it’ll make its debut by the end of the year, buuuut we’ll see.

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Have you been struggling with your writing too? How do you try to overcome it? Do you think Mail Order Thief is a good title/novel idea?