Beginnings and Thank you's. Day 1,044.

I never imagined that this project would go on this long!  I started in August of 2009 thinking that this was going to be a short story, and I would be done with it in a month or two.  One-hundred and thirty-thousand words and 33 months later, I am on the verge of finishing.  I hope to get through my final proofing this summer and then begin sending out query letters to agents in the fall.

When I began in the fall of 2009, I assumed it would be easy.  Just sit down and write, right?  I also thought that I would be doing this more or less by myself.  Of course, I was wrong on both counts.  This has been a very challenging process - much more so than I could have imagined.  I don't think I could have made it this far without the help of my friends and family.  My wonderful wife Eileen and my niece Stefanie got me started, Laura, Ty, Cathleen, Nate, Gina, Jenny, Tawnya, and all the others from my writers group kept me going, and of course, Nancy, Rich, Tina, Marie, Ray, George, Ginny, Mary, Barb, and Chris all read through some of the awful early versions and gave me very candid and helpful feedback.  Thanks, everyone!! 

Kind of a short first post, but I'm new at this.  I'll try to post something every week.  Thanks, all!