First draft complete!
Hi, everyone! So I’m not sure if anyone actually reads this, but someone suggested that I start blogging again, so I’m going to try doing that!
Last Saturday I finished the first draft of my third novel! This one is a contemporary YA, and I think that for a first draft, it’s pretty decent. If you like Gossip Girl, then it will definitely be up your ally. I had lots of fun writing it because it’s so different from anything else I’ve ever written — my two previous novels were a YA paranormal romance and a YA urban fantasy. (More like suburban fantasy, but it’ll get more urban as the series progresses).
So now I’m onto editing, which is a totally different mindset from writing. I can’t believe how quickly I managed to finish writing the first draft — I started in November and finished in the beginning of January, AND I took a break mid-December for winter vacation. 1,500-2,000 words a day really does get you far in the long run. It’s crazy how quickly you’ll see your word count increase. I kept track of my word and pages count on an Excel document when I wrote, and I loved looking back at it and seeing my progress in an organized way.
While I was writing my contemporary YA, I was also planning a new YA urban fantasy series. I have the beginning of the first book outlined, but I’ll probably take a minor break from that as I enter the editing phase for the contemporary YA. Editing takes a lot of time! You have to read the book a bazillion times, and by the end you’re super sick of it.
Speaking of editing, that’s what I SHOULD be doing right now.
xoxo,
Michelle
Currently reading: I just finished Across the Universe last night by Beth Revis and LOVED it! It’s really unique since we don’t see much sci-fi in the YA genre, so I definitely recommend picking it up. The next book I’ll be starting on is XVI by Julia Karr, which looks really interesting 🙂
Hi Michelle,
Great post! Yes, editing is NOT an easy or quick process. I also find that after I've read my book five million times that I get “super sick of it.” (well said) The best feeling is finishing those last few sentences of your first draft, sitting back and saying, “WOW – look what I just created.” The first edit is always fun, long and tedious, but fun. This is when you can see it all come together. Congrats, Michelle, on your third novel! I'm proud of you, fellow BC Babe 🙂
A whole novel since November? Wow…what an accomplishment! Hope you're taking some time to celebrate before editing ~
I'm writing my third book now and will be popping champagne bottles when it's done!
Good luck~
I'm so proud of you, Michelle! I hope there are many more novels and first drafts to come!
Congrats on completion! I always love first rounds of revisions – it's not until the 3rd or 4th time around it starts to get crazy.
Anway – It's great to see you back on the blog!