By Michelle Griep, @MichelleGriep
I just finished my, umm, let’s see . . . I think this is my 14th or 15th manuscript. They all blur together after awhile. But you want to know what it feels like? Picture yourself running top speed for 45 minutes on a treadmill. You’re all sweaty and nasty by the end of it. You kind of feel like dying, but then again, as you cool down, exhilaration sets in and you’re pretty sure you can conquer the world. You hate it, but at the same time you love it.
That’s what finishing a manuscript feels like.
You love that you persevered.
But you hate that your synapses are no longer firing and you’re pretty much brain dead.
You love the characters you created. They are part of you.
But you hate that you have to say good-bye and shove them out the door and into the world.
You love the warm satisfaction filling your tummy like hot muffins on a cold morning.
But you hate the accompanying unease of oh-my-freaking-stars-what-will-I-do-now?
You love that this just might be your best book ever.
But you hate the creeping suspicion that your editor will immediately shoot you an email asking you what kind of drugs you were on while you wrote that steaming piece of literary manure.
You love that you’re done editing the dang thing.
But you hate the fact you’ll still have to go through it all again at least twice more.
You love being a writer.
But you hate the doubt that you’ll ever be able to pull off another novel again.
There you have it. A bit psychotic? Yep. Maybe even a tad bi-polar. Wait a minute . . . you weren’t under the impression that writers are normal, were you?
What is normal is the crazy rush of emotions when you do finally type ‘The End.’ You’re not the only one to feel that way, and guess what? You’ll probably always feel that way when you finish a manuscript. That’s just part of being a writer.
Dover, England, 1808: Officer Alexander Moore goes undercover as a gambling gentleman to expose a high-stakes plot against the king—and he’s a master of disguise, for Johanna Langley believes him to be quite the rogue. . .until she can no longer fight against his unrelenting charm.
All Johanna wants is to keep the family inn afloat, but when the rent and the hearth payment are due at the same time, where will she find the extra funds? If she doesn’t come up with the money, there will be nowhere to go other than the workhouse—where she’ll be separated from her ailing mother and ten-year-old brother.
Alex desperately wants to help Johanna, especially when she confides in him, but his mission—finding and bringing to justice a traitor to the crown—must come first, or they could all end up dead.
Michelle Griep’s been writing since she first discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. She is the author of historical romances: The Innkeeper’s Daughter, 12 Days at Bleakly Manor, The Captive Heart, Brentwood’s Ward, A Heart Deceived, Undercurrent andGallimore, but also leaped the historical fence into the realm of contemporary with the zany romantic mystery Out of the Frying Pan. If you’d like to keep up with her escapades, find her at www.michellegriep.com or stalk her on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.the next level.