My frist draft is done!

[Kalthandrix]

Yaaaaaaaaa!

I just finished the last chapter of my first novel and am so pumped. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me - such as typing out my handwritten chapters and editing - but that can't dim the happiness I am feeling right now. I am estimating that in all, this book will be over 170k long, but short of 200k. I am super proud if it and cannot wait to dig in and get more done and get to polishing this thing to a golden glow!

[Down the well]

Congratulations!

Just in time to really celebrate this Thanksgiving. Er, if you're American, that is.

[J. T. SHEA]

Bravo, Kalthandrix! The writing world can sometimes be an echo chamber in which such achievements are taken for granted.

Contrary to popular opinion, most people do not have a book in them. Most who do do not even begin writing it. Most who begin do not finish. Finishers do number in the tens of thousands, but that's out of a population (in the USA) of 300 million people.

One small suggestion. When I changed from longhand to typed (computer) first drafts years ago, I was amazed at how much easier it was, both for composition and editing. Worth a thought for the next book.

[Kalthandrix]

Thanks for the kind words. I am super excited seeing as how I believe this will be about 170-200k when I get all my handwritten stuff in. Granted, I have noticed that a good number of my old chapters need much more work than those I have been writing recently, but it is all about the learning curve.

@ J. T. SHEA - yeah, I’m feeling you on the whole "ease of writing" thing. When I started, I was not that good at typing and all the errors and stuff I seen cropping up in Word was distracting, but with a paper and pencil I was able to let it all flow. Granted, I have written chapters 19-30 of my novel almost exclusively in Word, and will not go back to just doing longhand because it is a LOT of work transcribing my written word - I write small and get about 500 words per page...and pencil makes fade after a time making it even harder to read my own writing :D

Thanks again.

Unfortunately, I told Nathan that he would be the first agent I queried, but he is not in the game any longer :( ... but I think I will try going it alone and submit the novel to TOR when I complete my edits and redrafting of some elements.

[sierramcconnell]

Good luck with the editing. 170-200k seems a mite long... O_O

[GeeGee55]

Yes, celebrate! Finishing your first draft the first time around is a major accomplishment. Congratulations.

[Fenris]

Wow! That's a long book! Congratulations on finishing the first draft--it's always a relief to have everything finally down on paper.