Week 24 - The End of the Beginning

The other week I was walking in the Peak District. Not walking as in from the car to the cafe, but proper walking. Out on the hills being buffeted by wild wind and the odd wildish sheep. After a couple of hours, I stopped to have a drink. Turning around, I looked back over the path I had walked and was amazed to see how far I had come.

Just like this week.

On Tuesday night I typed two of the most magical words in writing: "The End." After 24 weeks, a number of setbacks, a few too many wee small hours sessions, I had arrived at the end of my first draft.

Now, I would not be telling the truth if I said that I never doubted that I would make it this far. There were times when the whole project - writing a novel in a year, while holding down a full time job - seemed to be on the par with waiting for my local library to get some new books.

So how have I got this far? The main reasons are:

1. I wanted to get this far. It's no exaggeration to say that if you don't really want to achieve a big task, the chances are you won't. Trust me, I know.
2. Habit. Write everyday - or at least six days a week. It is habit forming and your characters will begin to live because you spend so much time with them. Be warned though, this can lead to MWS - mumbling writer syndrome; whereby mothers move their children away from the odd person who is walking through town saying things like, "This would be a good place to hide a body" & "How much weed killer would you need to put in someone's drink to kill them?" (Don't try that at home - I have a feeling the answer is not very much).
3. Organisation (or , let’s be honest, at least the semblance of it). For this I have used Scrivener: www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.htm It has probably made the difference between the printed MSS that now sits on my desk awaiting the red pen of revision and tears and wailing unbecoming of a thirty-something.

I am now talking a whole 5 days off - trying not to think about my novel so that when I go back to Chapter One on Monday, it will be with fresh eyes.

I may not have yet completed the literary equivalent of the Pennine Way; but I'm out there, in the middle of the hills with nothing but empty scenery around me.

It's a little scary; it's a little daunting. But it's also very, very exciting.

The only problem is: however closely I study my Ordnance Survey map, there doesn't seem to be any instructions on how to write a second draft.