Wa-Hoo! I finished my novel! YAY!

[shadowkat]

Wa-hoo! I finished my novel! I finished my novel! It clocks in at 96,973 words and approximately 255 pages. It only took me two years and three months to write. Best thing I've ever written in my humble opinion.

Now, comes the hard part. Revising? Nope. Having other people read it. Then sending it to literary agents and publishers. Then working on the next book in the series. Hopefully, with a full time job, I can clock in a novel every two years. Not giving up the day job any time soon. I come from a long line of frustrated novelists and artists on both sides of my family.

Feeling very proud of myself right now. Even if nothing comes of the novel. There's an odd feeling of accomplishment when you've completed one.

Comments

Congratulations!

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

OMG! I am so thrilled!
Now be sure to make several disk copies and keep them safe (some fire proof box, or mailed to an attny w/a fire proof box...)!

This is really great, you know I was reading an amazing article in the New Yorker recently (you probably read it too) about a Black writer who never finished his second novel because the early draft was lost in a fire and he could just never managed to get back to it. You really over came a huge obstacle when you had to rewrite what was stolen, and I admire you more than I can say for not letting that set back keep you from finishing.

We should have a party! LOL

Re: Congratulations!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I learned a great deal writing this book.

Good advice. Must go get the last ten chapters saved. About 80% of it is already of course. And I've printed off most of it. Also sent a good portion to my email account.

RE: the second bit - luckily for me, I didn't lose the whole thing, just 40-50 pages, which weren't amazing. Not quite the same as losing an entire draft.

I dealt with the missing pages and the incident in an odd way - which wouldn't work for everyone or everyone's books. I just wrote the robbery into my book which fortunately for me resolved a plot problem I was having prior to the incident. It helped me come up with a realistic, pertinent event to thrust my central character into the midst of. Basically turned a negative into something positive. Which in a way is one of the central themes of my novel - finding a way to make life work for you, even when it throws you curve balls and doesn't give you what you want.

Re: Congratulations!

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I hope I'll have the opportunity to read it some day...
that is a theme which seems so important on such a basic level. It seems to me that a lot of unhappiness comes from trying to keep things the same while in fact the only constant in life is that everything is always changing (growing, dying). Happiness can only come from adapting to change, but of course I'm always stuck in a rut! LOL