finish the first draft of my novel

I’m starting again. 1008 words into it, and I’m aiming to at write at least 50,000 words.

....but surely. I decided to switch POV’s- from third to first, and its been a lengthy process, but the prologue is entirely converted, plus another two thousand words have been added. I have taken a general liking to the tone I have been using, but I know there is still a lot of bullshit to sift through.

I’ve set a date to be done with the first draft- April 23rd, and I want to have it entirely edited, in the first person, and at 100,000 words by then. My reward is going to be a homecooked dinner by my lovely. My consequence of not finishing will be giving up the internetz for a week.

Current WC: 51720

not happy because not perfect and rushed, but it is a first draft and its done.

Until revisions.

to use over lunch hour. this goal is within reach, if I give myself until midnight tomorrow ;-> i had a pint of mayan chocolate, just in case.

Next I have to decide: move 2nd draft to personal goal or secret project to the front.

i learned a lot from this goal and the dire threat of loss of chocolate has been a strong motivator.

I’m still not sure if I am a pantser or a plotter: i wrote most of this to an outline, not even as detailed as some as i have seen and then used the outline as a spur. during the first spurt of writing where i wrote most of it, i stopped and did some writing exercises as well as some non-fiction, and just let everything stew. i have started a second draft, same characters but revisions on structure and theme. i will be reusing only one whole chapter with slight revisions, but some of the characters have changed (a grandmother to an aunt, for instance) but the principals have remained the same.

i still want to finish this to prove i can see a draft to the end and if i fail i really will forgo chocolate for a year. i’m off to complete one chapter that i only had notes on before.

reviewed everything that I had written. I’m guessing that I am about 2/3 done. Of course, the first chapter isn’t as smooth as the last chapters and I’m really disappointed with losing momentum. I will try to work on the rewrites and some insertions, fresh stuff, that needs to be written to fill in the gaps.

Has anyone tried to write by getting up an hour earlier and using that time to complete a novel? I want to hear from night owls like myself, to see what ideas they used. People who already like mornings may not have the best advice.

My computer crashed, big time, and… I didn’t have a backup of what I’ve written so far. Talk about learning the lessons you need to learn the hard way.

So, I’m starting my first draft again. At least I know I can write 27,000 words, which is more than I’ve ever done before, and I plan on surpassing 27,000 words in a shorter time frame, and hope I “find” my story faster this time, so it would appear to actually have a plot.

I sat down last night and looked at the challenge before me. Chapter 22 is the very beginning of the relationsip, chapter 23 is, quite literally, the end of the novel. (Or at least the beginning of the chapters of the end.) I have five years to cover between those chapters and I am not looking forward to it so much.

But I told various people it would be ready to read/criticize in a few weeks, so I guess I will just have to man up and hope it comes out all right. Aside from the big time gap, I also have to edit for character, grammar, and continuity. There are a few scenes that need to get trimmed down and a few scenes that need to be finished.

I’d better get started on this.

I managed to print everything off but then I didn’t look at it again. Here’s my problem: I’m more interested in two non-fiction projects than I’m in the novel that I am kicking around, two-thirds done…

Since I take my chocolate very seriously, I’m going to have to pull a rabbit out of my hat to make my soul and my pocketbook happy at the same time.

since it has been awhile since i looked at the first draft of the novel closest to completion, i am going to go and get the computer file, most recent, printed off, so i have a document to edit from. I know that editing and working on something in infancy is just the best way to torture yourself, but really, i can’t remember everything i wrote, like plot, what people look like and how to spell names properly. maybe i will be suitably anal and produce a chart. That should be acceptable for something 2/3 done?

119 days left to NoC-day.