Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I got a massage voucher for Christmas from some friends, and I decided to use it after finishing the next round of revisions. It was a really nice way to reward myself, so I decided to do something similar at the end of each round. I then happened to win a facial voucher, so that was going to be the next reward, except this round of edits is taking longer than expected and the voucher is going to expire before I finish :-) A pre-emptive reward maybe?

I think you should do something, whether it's buy yourself a nice bottle of wine, give yourself an entire day to do nothing but laze around and read, or even just buy yourself a doughnut. Finishing editing, or a first draft, or whatever milestone, should be marked in some way! Let's face it, the agent/publishing deal celebrations take years to reach, so let's treat ourselves in a little way when we can!

Ermo wrote:I like how William did it - that's good stuff. And Heather - you really don't allow yourself even one private moment of celebration?

Nope. I mean I have heaps of private moments and hang out with my friends etc but it has nothing to do with my book. I figure I'll celebrate the day I snag an agent/editor. And when I do celebrate, it will be a week-long bender.

When I type "The End" the husband and I go out for sushi, I spend an entire weekend playing a video game I've been putting off non-stop, and then monday morning I start on edits by reading the whole thing from start to finish.

There is also a lot of screaming and self-congratulating and a ton of "THANK GOD I NEVER THOUGHT I'D FINISH" too.

Hahah I love all of these! Well, I JUST finished...and I've told everybody who cares, and doesn't care, and have been thinking...whoa. I'm FINISHED!!!! hahah But no, to celebrate, I'm giving the ending to my friend, getting excited all over again with her, planning on not writing for a good week, and buying tons of music I've been dying to...just because :)

Congratulations heyimkt!!

I happy dance pulling out all the moves: the mash, twist, cabbage patch. :) Then I flip through my drawer of ideas until one of them jumps out at me. I start plotting that one. Then after a week or two I go back and do edits.

When I got the news that I would be published in an anthology I was in an airport and happy danced before I realized it. Onlookers clapped...That was really fun.

When I grab an agent I don't know what I'll do.

A glass of Dom Perignon and a single cigarette.

Wait... no. Wrong writer.

Usually I look up glassy-eyed from my monitor and let the idea that I've hit THE END sink in. It takes a minute. I get kinda shaky. Then I go and tell my husband (if he's still awake). And I go and get myself some Scotch or bourbon, 'cause I've earned it!

Frozen pizza, coffee ice cream, and The Good The Bad and The Ugly. Ooooh yeah.

I'm like Heather B. I finish one, I try to decide which one I want to work on next. I'll usually have two or three false starts before I find an ms that catches and I start working on it full-time.

I sleep till my body and my mind reject sleeping.

Sit back and smile.

Then maybe go and drink some chocolate milk.

When I finish a PB, I celebrate by smiling a lot, making myself a treat like an ice cream sundae, and sending it out.

I haven't finished a novel yet, but when I do, I'll let you know what happens. :-)

I actually celebrate with a week or two of the computer game Civilization (in my free time at least). I geek out about that game in the biggest way.

I sit down the next morning/later that day/whatever the appropriate time difference is and say it's time to start the next one. If a man up and celebrated every time he did something, he'd never get anything done, and I've already got enough problems keeping myself on track with writing. Take the time to celebrate and I'd never write again.

BRSloan: Coffee ice cream... Mmmm... Yum. Especially when topped with dark cholotate-covered peanuts.

Nathan: Oh, my God, I LOVE Civilization! My husband and I dated over that game; we'd take turns playing while the other one watched over the player's shoulder. That's the first game I am going to let my kids play when we start letting them play computer games. We've got whole strategies worked out, and everything. I miss that game! (No time now that we have kids and I'm trying to write for money.) Boo-hoo. It might be a good way to celebrate when I finish my WIP; on the other hand, I might get sucked so far into it that I'd only come out occasionally, dazed and squinting, for sustenance. Civilization is addictive that way. It could be dangerous.

Actually, I just "finished" my first draft today. I had no idea other writer's celebrated such a thing...but I have to admit I did imagine screaming from the rooftops...or at the very least tell my hubby and allow myself a few hours to pig out. Instead here I am on my laptop hard at work planning my next WIP while I let the first rest. When August rolls around I'll start the edits.