What Every Writer Does After Pressing SEND on a Manuscript

From Edie: What happens after you press SEND on your manuscript? Discover the funny, relatable emotions and real-life moments every writer experiences next.

What Every Writer Does After Pressing SEND on a Manuscript

by Beth K. Vogt @BethVogt

Y’all are invited to join me in a little celebration today. 

I know you’re wondering, “What are we celebrating, Beth?” And you’re also probably thinking, “Where did the southern y’all come from?”

What can I say? I lived in the south for eight years. Somethings still linger.

But back to the celebration: I pushed SEND on my manuscript at the beginning of July and yes, I’m still happy dancing. It was wonderful to send off book 2 in my small-town romance series.

What does a writer do when she sends off her manuscript—besides sleep? She happy dances around her house. (Next time I’ll have my husband capture video proof of this event.)

I also had a bit of creativity left because I came up with an anacronym for SEND to share with y’all today. (See what I did there?) Let’s see if SEND means the same thing to you as it means to me:

Sanity is restored—at least for a little while. I walk out of the fictional world I’ve lived in for weeks (months) and return to normal. (No comments, please.) I also experience writer withdrawal and relearn “real” conversation. 

Everybody’s talking at me. All my real life people? Yep, they want my attention. Of course, they wanted my attention while I was writing my manuscript too, but now I can focus on what they’re saying to me without my hero or heroine interrupting with a vital piece of dialogue. NOTE: I also write non-fiction. There’s a similar withdrawal (see S) when you finish a long-term non-fiction project, just without the voices. 

Now’s the time. No putting off all those real life things I couldn’t do while I wrangled my manuscript into submission. (Laundry? There’s no ignoring that for weeks on end.) Think exercising. And going outside to see the light of day. Letting friends know I still exist. Clearing all the clutter of story notes off my desk. 

Don’t forget that next novel waiting for my attention. A new story has been waving at me from the back corner of my mind, trying to snag my attention. Time to stop happy dancing and settle down behind my laptop to welcome those characters onto the page.

What’s life like when you SEND a manuscript? How do you celebrate? 

TWEETABLE

What Every Writer Does After Pressing SEND on a Manuscript from @BethVogt on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” She’s authored 15 novels and novellas, both contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Beth is a Christy Award winner, an ACFW Carol Award winner, and a  RITA® finalist. Her newest contemporary romance novel, Dedicated to the One I Love, released June 20, 2023. Her novel Things I Never Told You, book one in her Thatcher Sisters Series by Tyndale House Publishers, won the 2019 AWSA Golden Scroll Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people. Connect with Beth at BETHVOGT.COM.