I Finished Draft 1, Book 1, of My YA Vampire Series!

Last month an email lured me to join National Novel Writing Month Camp for April because NaNoWriMo added a reasonable variation to its original expectation that people write a fresh novel in a month (and that month initially was November): actually FINISHING a book you started! It was high time I completed my draft of a YA vampire novel I started about 20 years ago and stop sniveling about it in any way, shape, or form.

It was an easier goal by far than what a lot of people set (and sometimes reach, amazingly!) The only barrier for the month was Easter. I could handle that, and I did. I estimated the word count I would need, based on the chapters I planned and had partially written from where I last left off until the end. 6 chapters. Join some other NaNo writers for mutual support, buckle down, and write at least X number of words every weekday, and I'd get there.

I actually beat the expected word count without finishing the novel. I'd been wrong about how much text would be necessary to cover the subject matter. The website awarded me a winner badge on my profile, gave me a link to a winner's certificate, and other links to products they thought I'd be interested. I made another estimate and re-set my goal.

The process ended up requiring 8 chapters instead of 6, and a second adjustment to the word count. But on Friday, April 23, 2021, I typed END on the final page.

I have a 401 double-spaced pages in Times New Roman 12 point font. To record the length more accurately, I have written 99,073 words.

I thought it was too long for YA, but another writer assured me it wasn't. YA, he said, is typically between 70k and 110k. Non-YA is 80k-130k. By length alone, what I have could fit into either category. In future edits, I will trim redundancies and other lengthening errors and may even cut out scenes I will find unnecessary, but I may add more description, so it's hard to say what the final length will be. But I'm feeling good about how my subject matter formed. SO glad to have it all down and not have to make any excuses to anyone!

I had to celebrate! So I arranged to go to a fancy restaurant (actually open of dining!) with a friend, my offspring, and offspring's roommate. That food was great, and it was such a nice treat for us al. I got all dressed up in a black, jeweled dress and a fancy red hat with black trim and some gothy jewelry.

Another wonderful thing today happened as a surprise: an successful author of similar subject matter who shares my Christian faith responded to my comment on her Facebook account and sent me a friend request. How wonderful of Sue Dent to talk to me about ins and outs of publishing and relate to my frustration! Thank the Lord!