Monday, March 10, 2008

First Novel

This past Friday marked a milestone in my writing career--I finished the first draft of my novel! What this means is now come the revisions. As long as it's taken me to write the first draft, I expect this to be a process...don't run to the book stores yet. It is very exciting to know I have actually finished it. It is the longest piece of work I have ever written, currently at 186 pages (and yes, those are book pages). Below is a small sample taken from the first chapter (keep in mind it's pre-revision). Enjoy.


September 1988
Dear Journal, I love Junior High!! It has only been two days, but it’s been great. Going to a new school was a little scary at first, but now I love it. I love having my own locker, having an area where friends get to “hang out,” and how at this school it is cool to be Maren’s sister. Maren is very popular and I have gotten to meet several ninth graders because of her. There are so many new people and everyone is very nice. Well, except for this one girl, Dawn. Over the summer Iris and I had been on a softball team. We had a great season. I played first base and Iris was short stop. We won every game but one. We were playing against this team called The Davis Real Estate Eagles. It was a tie score. Our team mate Liz was up to bat. As she approached home plate, we all hollered cheers of encouragement. But somehow without thinking I yelled out, “Liz, pretend the ball is the pitchers head!” As the words left my mouth one by one I wanted to pull them back. But it was too late. The pitcher, Dawn, looked over at me with her permed mullet and gave me a glare that would have sunk the Titanic. As I shrunk down in my spot in the bleachers the only comfort I found was in knowing it was the end of the season and I wouldn’t have to see that pitcher again. The final score of the game was 8-5 Eagles. I moved on with life, trying to forget about the whole ugly event.
But, when I walked into 7th grade Earth Science on the first day of school, my heart plummeted when I looked up and saw Dawn was in the class. I went straight to my seat praying the whole way she would not recognize me. I can’t remember a single thing the teacher said, because all I could think was, “I know that pitcher is going to make my life a living hell!”
At the end of the day Iris approached me with Dawn at her side. I was deep in my locker looking for an eraser when the two approached me. “Wendy,” Iris said, “this is Dawn. Do you recognize her from softball this summer?” Hitting my head on the shelf as I pulled it out of the locker, realizing at the same time who Dawn was and what was happening, I responded, “No, I’m sorry I don’t remember. I’m Wendy.” “You don’t remember?” Iris retorted, “Dawn was the pitcher of the Eagles. You told Liz to pretend her head was the ball.” “Oh, that was you,” I offered with an uncomfortable smirk while thinking of the conversation Iris and I were going to have later. “What I meant by that was, well I mean, I didn’t actually want her to hit your head or anything, I, um, just wanted her to hit a home run…” Dawn looked at me, smirking and said, “I know what you meant, see you around.” With that Dawn walked off, leaving Iris and I at my locker. “She’s really nice,” Iris offered. I shut my locker door and we headed to the bus together. Something tells me it isn’t over with Dawn.

3 comments:

James T Wood said...

Congrats!

I really like the imagery of wanting to pull the words back - that made me chuckle. You've got me curious to know more about Junior High, what happens next?

Tiffani said...

Good work finishing the draft! Oh, man. You gotta love appreciate the experience of walking in the shoes of a junior higher again. Looking forward to reading more.

Tif

Samantha said...

Oh my gosh...I love the permed mullet!! Can't wait to read more...