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While I was writing my first book it was almost the cone-of-silence treatment. My wife knew I was writing a book, but almost no one else. That book had been finished for almost 18 months before I told most of the rest of my family (I imagine it might have been harder to keep the cone-of-silence if we had kids).
Why? Partly because I had no idea whether I would have what it took to finish it, but mostly because I find myself almost schizophrenic while I'm writing. Some days I think it's going great, on others I think it's horrible. It wasn't until that book was almost finished - I do lots of rewriting as I go - that I was able to read back over it and feel that it was something I wasn't going to be ashamed to have others read.
I am less secretive about the fact of writing now, but I still say little about the content or story line because much of the outline I am trying to work to is based on information that should only be revealed through the story - and exactly how it will be revealed is often a mystery, even to me, until it is written. I guess things could be different once I have more experience, perhaps I will gain some confidence one day, but until then I am happy to talk about the process enough to bore anyone, but I still stay pretty quiet about the story.
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