I can’t believe that, for the second time in under 8 months, I’ve written a completely new book…and I did it in only 18 days!
This time, it was for my dark academia adventure, nicknamed Project Dice, and I wrote those amazing words “the end” on the first Saturday of the month. In my previous post, I mentioned that I planned on outlining Dice in January and fast-drafting in February, but after talking with my agent about my writing career goals and current manuscripts, I felt confident about moving Dice up the roster. That, and I was so excited to get started–waiting until February felt like too long!
Having written Project Drake in 18 days last July, I felt confident, excited, and a bit scared to try and do it again. My goal was to hit somewhere between 40-50,000 words, which equated to about 2,555 words a day. In the beginning, I was crushing my daily word count goals and was ahead of the game, until I hit day 9.
That’s when my chronic illness decided to flare up.
For about 5 days, I could barely do much of anything, let alone write. It was incredibly frustrating, and by the fifth day, I was in tears because of the pain and pent-up aggravation. I barely wrote 3,000 words doing those entire 5 days, and I had no clue how I could keep my 18-day goal. I was already figuring I was going to need more time to finish. 18 is already lightning fast for me to write a book, and losing several days on top of that felt next to impossible.
So I decided to approach it as best I could: I would write as much as I was able without causing my flare up to return, even if it meant I wouldn’t make my original 18-day goal. It felt too big, and I was stressing myself out over an entirely self-made deadline (and stress can cause flare-ups or make them worsen, too).
I still don’t know how, but I managed to carve away in those final four days, with 6,000 words written one day and 7,000 written on the final day — day 18.
And I got to write ‘The End.’
It needs work, absolutely, but the first draft is complete. After that, I took 9 days off before tackling revisions so I could bask in my triumph and give my mind and body a much-needed break. I read a bunch, played video games, and curled under blankets as I browsed Disney +.
So here I am, working on the first round of revisions. This is a short round (just two weeks) to make sure all the major plot points are in, that the setting is sketched out enough to be readable, and the main characters have fully built-out arcs. My goal is to add another 15,000 or so words to this initial draft.
I’ll admit, I’ve been nervous to get toward that final third of the book, because I’d written it so quickly and couldn’t imagine it was any good. But if that’s what needs the most work before it goes on to my agent and first betas for initial feedback, then it has to be done.
Revisions are going well so far, and I decided to highlight the places that need the most work before I can call it complete enough for other eyes. It’s tough, because I know this draft will still be missing a ton — it’ll need nearly 20,000 words added to it even after I finish with this round of 15,000 words. 20,000 words is a lot of content, about 25% of the entire final word count, so there will naturally be a lot missing, a lot left for me to add.
But that’s for slightly future me to contend with. Writing is revising, and I have to focus on getting the initial story working before I can add more beyond it. I personally prefer writing as if I’m painting: I get the initial sketch out, and every round, I add more and more until it’s where I want to be. I’m not an over-writer, far from it, which means I’ll constantly need to add as I go. There are pros and cons to this way of writing, but it works for me, and I think it makes my revision rounds a bit easier to tackle because they’re shorter.
I’m currently aiming to get this version out the door in a few days, either in full, or by sending the first half initially and the second half a few days after. I’m trying to stick to pretty intense deadlines, but I also want to give myself some wiggle room if I need extra time.
Wish me luck on this first round of revisions, I need ‘em!
Waiting impatiently for spring and warmer days,
Valerie
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valerie c. norton 