HEAR ME OUT.
Okay, yes, this is by far my most ambitious drafting schedule ever. My previous fastest first draft was 28-29 days, which was already lightning speed. But I have several reasons for wanting to draft even faster.
The biggest reason comes down to the fact that I have multiple bookish irons in the fire. Now that I have an agent, I have one book currently on submission to publishers, another that will be ready to go on submission in a few months, and another that’s complete but is currently on the back burner until I figure out with my agent how we should best proceed with it.
If I get a book deal on the current project on submission, I’ll have to turn all my attention back to that story again. Meanwhile, my other near-final project still needs revisions, but it’s getting edits by my agent and beta readers.
And then there’s this new story in my head. Hello, Project Drake!
I talked about it in my previous post, but I am *so* excited to start drafting this new romventure that’s been percolating in my mind for the past couple of months. Over the last few weeks, I’ve built out a detailed outline, character pages, and all sorts of pre-drafting items to make sure the drafting process will go smoothly. And now, there’s a very brief window of time where I don’t have any active projects to work on.
About 18 days.
21, technically, but three of those days will be spent at a company retreat. So it comes down to 18 days before I need to return to revisions on my near-final story to keep our timeline in place for submission.
And I’m going to use every moment I can to complete Project Drake!
I’ve taken off a couple of days from work to focus on drafting, and work is mercifully quieter this month as we prepare for the busy fall video games season. I’ve also let my dear husband and close friends know that I’ll be a hibernating bear during those 18 days, if that hibernating bear was instead holed up with a bunch of paper and pens.
Honestly, I have no idea if I’ll really be able to complete the first draft this quickly. I know it’s not impossible, but ambitious doesn’t even cover it. And I have to take my chronic pain into account — health still needs to come first. But I truly enjoy fast drafting and have a great outline to get moving on, so we’re going to try.
If I write an entire book in 18 days that will be INCREDIBLE. If I don’t, I’ll still have a portion of Project Drake complete.
Wish me luck, I’m going to need it!
Sending grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream,
Valerie
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valerie c. norton 