With furious keystrokes, an overload of coffee, and a bit of determination I FINISHED my April/July NaNo novel yesterday. However, the next emotion that wafted over me wasn’t elation or relief.
I didn’t get that feeling you get after running a marathon or winning a hot dog eating contest.
I actually felt like this was just the beginning.
…And it is.
First drafts are just warm up stretches for the real run. Or, as Chuck Wendig calls them, “creative vomit.”
Still, I’m happy I got through the slush pile!
Now it’s all a matter of letting the manuscript rest—and then editing it. Should be fun.
Hope you all did good on your NaNo writing this month!
Congrats! Go and celebrate. You deserve it! 😀
True..maybe I’ll go stuff my face with some barbecue 🙂
I actually edited for Camp NaNoWriMo, and I met my word-count today. I finished my novel in April, and I totally get what you mean. When I finished I want feeling, “I finished!” I was feeling, “Oh my God, I get to edit now!” Editing’s hard, believe me. But I think it can be so worth it 🙂
I agree! I hope that in the end I’ll have a decent little gem. 🙂
Congrats to you too btw.
Work killed my writing this month, but I did get going again and I’m working on my novels more regularly so that’s a good thing. Good luck with the next stage, it’s good to hear you’re getting somewhere.
Ugh life…it always seems to get in the way, right? (lol!)
The way I see it, as long as you wrote something it counts as a win! Good luck to you to 🙂
Congrats!! I still have a good 5,000 words left to write, so this entire weekend is gonna be taken up in that 😛
Thanks and you can do it!
Congrats on finishing it, and I know your pain. My entire process revolves around throwing entire sections (up to and including the entire draft) out and starting over with the same idea. So knowing that what I write first draft wise is just going to get thrown out makes it hard.
But then I see what happens when I let that process take hold. I had the delightful pleasure of someone reading the three drafts of my novel’s prologue. First draft was “eh, needs some serious help.” Second was “pretty good.” Third? “Holy #@$*!” Just pushing past that “aw man, this is slop” means you can make it a gleaming gem.
You pretty much described my editing process, lol!
I have a project (which I started in 2012 NaNoWriMo) that I’ve rewritten five times! And, like you said, with each rewrite I saw an improvement (maybe because I now understand my characters better).
Thanks for the inspiration! Now I’m looking forward to the revision process 😀
Congrats.
Congrats on finishing! 😀 You got to celebrate that achievement before moving onto the next stage.
The first draft is always an interesting time, I generally cringe as I read back through it. But then, that’s the point, right? The first draft is just about getting it down onto paper, no matter what it reads like. You can sort it all out later!