Novel News

Okay, readers, are you sitting down? I’ve got some news: I finished the first draft of my novel!

I’m so excited. My research trip definitely gave me the push that got me across the finish line. I was writing fiend. Scenes that were fighting me, begged me to write them.

It took a while to type in all the pages I’d handwritten, and then figuring out their order was another challenge. Here is what this draft’s organization looks like:

Each post it is a different scene, and the colors are significant. This exercise took more than three hours, with another couple hours to then put the scenes in order in a Word document. Thank goodness I now have a garage, since a kitten-free environment was essential for the process.

During my research trip, I finished listening to the audio book of Stephen King’s On Writing.

It seemed so appropriate. One suggestion it offered was after the first draft is complete, put it in a drawer for six weeks. Fresh eyes make a lot of sense to me. But he added one more thing I hadn’t thought of: Start another project. Getting involved in something else allows the mind to quit thinking about the finished draft.

So I have started on another project. I really like this idea because it is helping to keep me in the writing habit, and I’m on a roll. I have it on my calendar when I can go back and begin the revisions.

I can’t wait to get back to these characters and to polish up their story (and do a major continuity check on my timeline – only I would be excited about that part!), but my current cast are really starting to take life. What a great encouragement it will be to stick to the revisions so I can get back to my new book.

Book writing, where have you been all my life?