Deliver Me (Revisited)

Ready to jump in the Wayback (WABAC) machine?

I'm dusting off another oldie-but-goodie, a post from January 2012 - six years ago. Boy does it takes me back. Waaaaay back. To the beginning. This is when I began writing Blessed Are the Peace Makers in earnest. Now it's 2017 and I'll soon be querying agents, seeking representation for the finished version.

I know what you're thinking. Six years is a long time to write a novel. But it took what it took and I'm okay with that. Many successful authors have walked a similar path.

So without further ado, here it is. Click here for the original post and to read the comments from 2011.

The New Year has delivered me to my writing. The manuscript, notes and characters I put down almost a year ago have come to life. The excitement is back, and building. My bedroom, my writing space, is adorned with various and assorted items that inspire me: posters, art, photographs.

While at Fernbank Science Center the other day, I bought a dragon (because, yes, there will be dragons), and was gifted a poster of the oceans and seas (because I love maps and this is maybe the coolest one I've ever seen AND it inspires me).

Now that I am writing again, I seriously need a new chair. And writing gloves. My current chair was a $20 thrift store purchase last year. It has served its purpose, considering I haven't spent that many hours a day in it. However, my left butt cheek sits at an angle and is about an inch lower than my right.

Dude. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this cannot possibly be helping a hip condition I wish to be rid of. Nor is it conducive to holding my head straight.

Vic Caswell suggested writing gloves. This house has no insulation and my crooked chair sits in a corner through which cold air seeps. Even with the heater at my knees and a blanket tucked behind me, my fingers get cold.

The rest is cake. I'm happy to be writing again, even cock-eyed. When I sat down at the first of 2012 and pieced together the already-written prologue, prophecy and main body of the story, I realized I had a substantial beginning.

But as with any muscle, the writing muscle is one you lose if you don't use. I have literally had to force myself to sit still in this lopsided rocker and write. But I persevere.

It is paying off. In the last three weeks I've added close to 10,000 words, upping total count to just shy of 18,000. Some nights the words flow. Other nights I edit. I am of the 'edit en route' variety of writer. It helps me with the flow, it helps me stay in character, and it keeps my butt in the chair.

Some nights I can't write at all, but my butt is in the chair to watch my television shows on hulu.com. Or to read.

Whatever it takes, I am telling this story. I'm doing it. And the only way that'll happen is by keeping my butt in this chair and my nose in the story.

~ ONWARD ~ Olivia J. Herrell

Ain't it awesome? I thought so, too. Especially knowing that the novel eventually morphs into a trilogy, and possibly a series, because the story is too big to fit in a normal-sized book. And the part where I no longer live in that cold, drafty house (or even that state). Or sit in that lopsided chair (with gloves) to write.

I no longer watch Hulu, choosing to wait until the content appears on Netflix commercial-free. And okay. I admit it. I am addicted. But it beats paying for cable and channels I neither watch nor want.

To close, I reiterate my 2012 ending - "Whatever it takes, I am telling this story. I'm doing it." And so I am.

What is your focus for 2017? Something fabulous and cheeky, I hope? Streeeetch!

That Rebel, Olivia J. Herrell (writing as O.J. Barre')

O.J. Barré is author of the upcoming Blessed Are the Peace Makers trilogy. Book One, Coming Home, is in final edits. The first draft of Book Two, Coming To, is nearing completion and Book Three, Coming Full Circle, is swirling in the mists of creation.