#amleaving

Six days ago, I typed these two adorable little words: THE END.

While I’ve been in Mildura, I’ve been working steadily towards completing a major redraft and restructure of my second novel. Last weekend, I made it — finally — to the end.

I typed THE END, but I know that’s not nearly the last of it. I have scenes still to go back to, even the odd whole chapter that I flagged, during the rewrite, as ‘needy’. There may be backfilling, even reverse engineering, required to make sure the novel works as I want it to. But I’ve managed to make a novel-sized, novel-shaped thing from the huge amorphous cloud of a first draft that I sat down with at the beginning of this year. THE END feels like a very good place to have reached, even though I know I’m not yet done with the novel.

Today marks the end of my month-long Mildura Writers Festival Residency. In fact, I’m typing this from Melbourne airport, waiting to fly home to Wellington, New Zealand. I have had the most wonderful, productive, creative time during the residency; and because of that, as with the novel, this END feels like a good place to have reached. As with the novel, I’m pretty sure I’m not yet done with Mildura.

Image: Foggy skyscape, rooftops, my last morning in Mildura.

Image: The Murray River, from en route Mildura to Melbourne.

Goodbye, Mildura. Thank you for having me. Ka kite anō.