Finishing a Rough Draft
I just finished writing the final chapter of the rough draft of the third book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, and I'm celebrating! My goal was to finish it before the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year holiday season and all the traveling I'll be doing during that time. I just made it!
Signing up to participate in Pikes Peak Writers' NaNoTryMo program (a variation on NaNoWriMo, where the goal doesn't have to be 50,000 words) helped a lot. Being on the hook to report my progress to others kept me working toward that goal of finishing the rough draft. Staying focused on writing scenes was tough when I was also working with my publicist on planning promotion for Deadly Currents, keeping these blog posts going, going to events, and all the other activities that a published author engages in.
Am I happy with the rough draft? Heck no! I'm never happy with my first drafts, which is why no one sees them, not even my critique group. I'm always convinced when I start writing a rough draft that I don't have another book in me and I won't be able to do it. Then when I finish it, I'm always convinced that it's the worst book I've ever written and no one will ever want to read it. This is the sixth novel-length manuscript that I've finished, and I still feel that way. But, I've learned to trust the process, to trust that between my own editing and my critique group's feedback, the manuscript will get better. And, when I reread sections while editing them, I often find gems and think to myself, "Wow, woman, you really can write."
So, the next step is to let the rough draft sit for awhile, say 3-4 weeks, and get some distance from it. Then I'll plunge back in and start editing. Usually I spend about 3 months editing a manuscript to whip it into shape. In the process, I convert what usually starts out as a lean 60-65,000 words to 70-75,000 words. This one will be at the high end of that range, since I have over 65,000 words now.
How about you? Finished any projects lately you'd like to crow about? I'd love to crow with you!
Signing up to participate in Pikes Peak Writers' NaNoTryMo program (a variation on NaNoWriMo, where the goal doesn't have to be 50,000 words) helped a lot. Being on the hook to report my progress to others kept me working toward that goal of finishing the rough draft. Staying focused on writing scenes was tough when I was also working with my publicist on planning promotion for Deadly Currents, keeping these blog posts going, going to events, and all the other activities that a published author engages in.
Am I happy with the rough draft? Heck no! I'm never happy with my first drafts, which is why no one sees them, not even my critique group. I'm always convinced when I start writing a rough draft that I don't have another book in me and I won't be able to do it. Then when I finish it, I'm always convinced that it's the worst book I've ever written and no one will ever want to read it. This is the sixth novel-length manuscript that I've finished, and I still feel that way. But, I've learned to trust the process, to trust that between my own editing and my critique group's feedback, the manuscript will get better. And, when I reread sections while editing them, I often find gems and think to myself, "Wow, woman, you really can write."
So, the next step is to let the rough draft sit for awhile, say 3-4 weeks, and get some distance from it. Then I'll plunge back in and start editing. Usually I spend about 3 months editing a manuscript to whip it into shape. In the process, I convert what usually starts out as a lean 60-65,000 words to 70-75,000 words. This one will be at the high end of that range, since I have over 65,000 words now.
How about you? Finished any projects lately you'd like to crow about? I'd love to crow with you!
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