Novel Draft? Done.

I’ve got a special newsletter for you this month! If you want to see a snippet from the first draft of my novel, become a FREE Patreon subscriber at the length below. Otherwise, keep reading to hear more about my first draft!

Four Years Later…

So I was very delayed getting Patreon posts out this month (and I didn't do the posts for some of the tiers, sorry!). But I think I have a pretty good reason for that...

I finished the first draft of my novel!

I officially finished the first complete draft of Forgotten Holler on December 30, 2024. I didn't say anything immediately because I wanted to process my feelings a little bit.

I started this thing in 2020, back during the pandemic. A professor of mine, Lincoln Michel, gave us a really excellent writing prompt for a short story, and I created a complete piece out of it. Then, for whatever reason, I couldn't get it out of my head. A very complicated, ambitious idea for a book took over my brain, so I set aside my more conventional novel and dove into what I would start to call Forgotten Holler.

Writing this book took me a little over four years, technically (to be exactly four I would have had to finish it a few months earlier). Part of the horrible struggle of it is that I had the brilliant idea to make it non-linear (more about that in this post). I did about three drafts trying to write it in book order and managed to get to a little over 30,000 words that way. Trying to keep track of that in my brain was kind of impossible, so I decided to retype what I had in chronological order, filling in the blank spots as I went. I ended up with a 75,000 words manuscript (which I think is an excellent length).

For whatever reason, finishing this first complete draft felt weirdly like a let-down. I think there was part of me that was still kind of disappointed I didn't get it done faster in the first place. But more importantly, I think, was I knew that I wasn't actually finished with anything. First drafts are a mess! And because this one is so weird and convoluted, it is especially messy. I am nowhere near the finish line.

With all of that said though, I actually really like editing. My literary translation classes have made me really good at it, and I'm excited to get into that process! But, per the advice of literally everyone when it comes to novels, I am taking a full month off before starting the revision process. Some people say to take longer, but I think a month is all I'll be able to handle.

Even though I've had a few days, I'm still not sure how I feel about this particular milestone. Part of me feels like I should really be more excited about this. But I mostly feel like I can finally get started on this novel for real. I just have to wait until February.

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Love and gratitude, friends. See you next month.