Crossing the Finish Line
The novel-in-a-month challenge comes to a triumphant end three days early!
Well, I did it. I finished the first draft of my month-long novel-writing project three days ahead of schedule!
If you don’t remember the original plan, the challenge was to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. Most people do National Novel Writing Month in the month of November, but because I didn’t find out about it until November 1 and I had a ton of work to do with election coverage, I started mine on November 15.
Early on, I learned about the challenges of writing fiction, at least for me, and I discovered my first actual case of writer’s block, which happened one other time in the process of writing this novel.
It also surprised me how quickly the ending came to me, which was how I was able to finish it early. And at 50,001 words.
So what’s next? I’ve determined not to write any fiction until after the new year, barring any major inspiration. That includes this novel, Long Lost, and Eden Island, the original novel I’ve been working on since before the challenge.
Come January, I hope to look at this first draft with fresh eyes and be able to edit and/or add things to make it even better. Then, I’ll send it to my publisher for her advice and suggestions. Hopefully, Long Lost will see the light of day in 2023.
I’ve lived with these characters for a month now, and they almost seem like real people to me. So I can’t wait to continue the process of setting them free for the world to get to know them too.
Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash