An Ode to First Drafts (Part 2)
In which I finish my story. And my first draft!
Hi there! I’m sure you’ve been waiting all week to read the conclusion of this story. It is your lucky day! Part 2 is here!
Here’s part 1 if you’d like a refresher:
Where was I? Oh, yes, I was floundering. My plan was to finish the first draft in March. I had taken PTO from my day job for one week at the beginning of January to get something, anything on paper because the rest of the spring would be packed with life things like work deadlines and moving (and things I didn’t even know about yet!).
Let me say, I loved school. I love getting direct instructions about what you want from me and then fulfilling those requests. No confusion. Just specific requirements and specific deadlines.
So, this should have been easy for me. The fact that it wasn’t easy added to the pressure I had already been putting on myself.
One reason I had so much trouble starting is because my version of writing (possibly everyone’s?) is to put characters I know in a room together and see what happens. It’s sort of like imagining how two of your friends would get along if they were introduced to one another.
The problem with this is that I didn’t really know the characters. I’m usually a pantser, and I learn as I go. Having an outline was certainly helpful, since otherwise I would have had nothing but my ideas to go on. But it turns out that my version of outlining had me sorting out plot points without having the characters really clear.
I had to trick myself into get started by starting in the middle of the book. For me, this felt very chaotic, even though I know a lot of people do it. It’s normal for other people maybe, but not for me. It felt like an experiment when I had no time for experiments.
I skipped forward to a main plot point I was pretty clear about and started there. Then, I decided maybe I should write the second act first. I put a sticky note on my living room wall for each scene in act two, and I checked them off as I got them done. Somehow, this worked, and I was writing constantly. In normal life, I would be happy with one thousand words or so in a writing session, but I was writing three to five thousand words at a time. Again, normal for plenty of people, but not for me. This time in a good way!
I stopped reading. I stopped watching anything on tv other than Grey’s Anatomy, which I have seen a million times, so it could serve as background noise without being too distracting. No Substack. No social media. The one big social outing I had was a weekend trip to visit my friends, and I got a separate hotel room so that I could get up at 5am each morning to make sure I had some writing done before the day started.
March came. Life happened. The full draft did not.
I got to the end of the first draft and sent it off on May 1.
I planned to finish it in March, so taking until May was rough for me. I hate having an unfinished to-do list. It lurks in the back of my mind at all times, and I feel like a failure. It felt like losing, and I do not like to lose.
Yes, it took me a couple of years to finish the first draft of CC. I have deftly pushed that fact out of my mind to make space to be disappointed in myself for taking four or so months to write the first draft of this next book. Eldest daughters, am I right?
Anyway, it’s turned in. I’m waiting for feedback from my editor and my agent, and I anticipate there being a lot of work to get to a second draft. I’m living in that blissful ignorance stage where I can cut myself some slack because I haven’t seen the feedback yet. I feel way less confident in this draft than I did in CC, and I’m not a professional editor.
I’m happy to have words on a page and characters partially developed, and I’m excited to get edits back, even if they’re painful.
You’ll note I’ve written two newsletters about book two without giving you any details about it, and unfortunately, you’ll have to be patient. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, especially knowing that I might have to rewrite the entire thing.
My dream world of blissful ignorance means I’m back to reading. Back to watching tv. Back to life!
Until next time, take it easy on yourselves. And leave comments!
If you’re looking for more, you can read the behind-the-scenes info about my first book here:
Thank you for reading! My debut novel CASKET CASE is available wherever you get your books. If you’ve already read it and liked it, please leave a 5-star review on Goodreads or Amazon and share it on the social media of your choice. I appreciate your continued support, which allows me to keep writing books!
BOOK TWO BOOK TWO LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO