First Draft COMPLETE!
Wow.
So, yeah, I just finished writing my first draft, and the moment I wrote those last words, I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment, relief, and then oddly… sadness.
I know I’m not anywhere near done with working on my novel, but the actual telling of the story is complete. My characters have grown, developed, triumphed, despaired, found love, and some have died. I don’t want to let them go. At least, not yet. 🙂
As for my manuscript, it’s not perfect (in fact, far from it), but now I have a novel – something to work with. 🙂
It’s in its weakest form… the first 10 chapters kind of drag, there’s a sideline plot problem in the middle chapters that I need to re-work because it’s coming off like crap, but overall, I’m pleased.
I’ve had two wonderful pre-readers giving me feedback all the way through, & now one more who’s going to read my first rough draft (I feel so bad for her! 😉
But it’s what I need, so that I know where to go with my revisions.
But that brings me to something else – one of the things I realized is that when I “finish” my novel (meaning, get it into what I think is publishing form), I have no idea how to proceed next. Do I find an agent? Do I start sending my book to editors? Do I self-publish (I’d rather not).
I mean, I ‘ve focused all of my energy on writing – I didn’t really think about what happens *after*
I guess this is going to be quite the learning experience.
And I must say, I’m excited!
I can see the finish line
I’ve learned that writing is like running a marathon.
You’ve got to train and practice constantly, because if you don’t, the race will win out over you.
Unlike 5k and 10K races, a marathon isn’t just about the finish, it’s more about the journey than anything, and the months you spent in preparation, and then the hours you toil on the actual race itself. You have highs and lows. Times when you’re on such a runner’s high that you feel like you could run to the top of Everest and back, and lows so low, that all you want to do is stop running all together and sit on the side of the road and wait for the bus to pick you up.
But you don’t quit. You finish, and you finish strong, and the feeling of accomplishment when you cross that finish line and they hang that finisher’s medal around your neck is amazing and completely worth it.
To me, writing is like that.
It’s not a sprint, but a marathon.
There are highs and lows. Times when the muse is constantly with you and the plot bunnies won’t leave you alone. Other times when you can’t even bear to look at your manuscript.
Just like I learned in my first marathon, sometimes it’s okay to walk. Just be sure to finish running.
Well, my friends, I can see the finish line. It’s many miles off yet, but I’m excited and motivated to get there, and don’t plan on walking any more until my first draft is done!
Okay, enough existential rambling for now. 😉
Some thoughts on writing…
So I’ve been at this story for a little over a year now (well in all fairness I didn’t touch the story from about April to October, SHAME ON ME), and I’ve discovered a few things:
-Plotting is FUN! Creating worlds, characters (writing their bios), new cultures, all that stuff is a blast. Then coming up with a story arc is the BEST PART.
-The actual writing is daunting. In some ways it’s quite scary. Every time I face a new chapter, I do it with trepidation. As if I’m somehow afraid that I’m going to screw it up. Then once I get going it’s no problem at all! It flows and I find I really enjoy myself, and I have no idea why I was so scared to get started in the first place. Then the chapter ends and I’m back at square one, afraid to start another chapter. *sigh* silly me.
-For me, music is QUITE important. I’ve got a specific “writing playlist” on iTunes that I use (though lately I’ve been straying from that). It helps set the mood, and I often find that when writing certain scenes a song will get played over and over again. (My poor husband is quite patient!) What I’ve found more interesting lately, is that if I play a song with a good dance beat (or rather, a running beat), I become quite productive and write A LOT. This was quite a surprise, but hey, I’ll go with it *goes back to playing Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and the Numa Numa song*
-More later, but that’s enough for now…
Janine
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-Janine