Hello dear readers,

I’m writing this to you from my kitchen desk, where I’m watching the first snowfall of the season, the flakes substantial and fast to make up for the fact it held off for so long.

I have some news: I’ve finished the first draft of my novel. The last words were typed just a few minutes ago, as the flakes began to fall. If I had known the snow was waiting for me to finish, I would have done it sooner. 

This novel is one that I’ve begun many times, in many different forms, over the past ten years. It’s had different names, and different characters, but the premise has always been the same at its core. It’s close to my heart because it’s grounded in the relationships I have with my grandparents, and holds small bits of each of them in its pages. I’m glad to have finally figured out what form the story needed to take.

It’s interesting to me because, of what I’ve written, I’ve never successfully finished a novel like this before. Everything I’ve loved enough to bring to completion in the past leaned more toward horror or mystery, often ending up as some hybrid of the two—I love ghosts, and hauntings, and big old houses you’ll get lost in; it’s hard for me to write something in which there isn’t some sort of spook running through the pages.

This story is none of those things, but it has been waiting to be written for a long time, and I’m glad I finally understood where it needed to go (and who needed to be in it). Now, the next step is shaping it into its finished form—a process I’ll start next week, after giving my brain a much-deserved break.

When I do sit back down at my desk, I have a list of points I want to add, another list of details needing to be slipped in, another still of what needs to be clarified. Overall, though, this is the most polished first draft I’ve ever turned out. There’s lots that needs to be worked out still, but the bones—and much of the body itself—is already in place. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes in the next draft.

Thank you for reading this little update. I’m not very good at celebrating my accomplishments, but this feels like a small step in that direction.

If you’re writing, I hope it’s going well for you. I’ll talk to you again soon.

—Catherine

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