How to Write a Novel in 33 Days

There. It's done, as of about 20 minutes ago. 65,000+ words, in 33 days, with one long holiday weekend full of family and three nights of parent/teacher conferences, mind you. I am so looking forward to reintroducing myself to the idea of free time. I got my winner badge about a week ago, but as of today the manuscript is done. I am immensely proud of the story I've told, and I know I'll be even more proud once its in good enough shape for people to read. Because it's really just a first draft now, which means I haven't even started on the heavy lifting yet. And I'm not planning to for at least a couple of weeks. But for now, I can enjoy the fact that this stage of the process is complete.

So, are you one of the millions out there thinking you'd like to try writing a book someday? The only things standing in your way are finding an idea you want to work with and the motivation to get from start to finish. But what about doing it in just one month? That is a different animal altogether. Here's one person's version of how to get that done:

*Let it take over your life. Write every moment you're able, think about it when you aren't, structure everything else to fit that schedule. Seriously. It's only one month, after all. In the broader scope of your life and what you'll have to show for your efforts when you finish, that's barely a footnote. Suck it up, cupcake.

*Have the right soundtrack. I have three or four albums I became so dependent on over the past month that I'll never again be able to listen to them without visualizing specific scenes from the book.

*Let the caffeine win. I'm not saying this is a good idea overall, but it's a nice temporary solution to the lack of sleep you'll experience. On one hand, it keeps your brain firing off ideas long after it really wants to anymore, and on the other hand it will keep you moving throughout the next day when you're trying to get by on the maybe four hours of sleep you allowed yourself the night before.

*Set your goal and meet it, without excuse. I knew I wanted at least 60,000 words, so I set a goal of 2,000 a day. For those of you in the non-writing world, that's approximately six to eight double-spaced word-processed pages daily. My average at the end? I just did the math on this. 1999.3939 words. So technically I didn't meet the goal, but I got within less than a word per day. I suppose I could have knocked off 20 more words just to hit that mark, but I know I'll but cutting at least 10,000 of them when I start editing, so there wasn't much point. The story only needed what it got.

*Last thing: Have something to say you believe in. In this case, I had a story that has been with me now for over fifteen years in different incarnations. It started as a short story that I liked but others felt ended too abruptly, then it became a manuscript I liked more than the literary agents of America did. When I decided to give it some retooling, I found new things to try that I think have brought it at least close to the epic that I always wanted to tell but knew in my heart I hadn't achieved.

And frankly, I cannot wait for people to read it. Very soon I'll be hitting up a small circle of beta readers to give it a look -- these are the people I know I can trust to give me the honest reads and opinions I'll need before I get into the revision phase, the ones who will be able to see past the typos and misplaced punctuation that comes hand in hand with writing at this speed, and who will be able to read it as a book instead of as "A Book Written By Someone I Know." That's a hard filter to set aside for a lot of people. So, for anyone following my progress who's curious enough to see the final product, I hope to have something ready for you in January. And for the beta readers -- well, you pretty much know who you are at this point and since you're probably some of the few people that follow this blog with any regularity, you should be checking your e-mail very, very soon. I'll be very anxious to hear back from you.

But in the mean time... I think it's time to fire up some mindless XBox again. I believe I have earned it.

Day 29 - I'm Going Slightly Mad

Okay, the title of this post isn't completely applicable, but I know my future self would deeply regret not commenting on the 20th anniversary of the day Freddie Mercury died -- which was actually five days back now -- so I threw in a little Queen reference just for good measure.

But it does kind of apply, because I am totally banging my head on the wall right now. The manuscript is just this {------------} far from the big climactic set piece at the end. Which is good. The problem is part of my wants to just tear into it, and the wiser, more measured part of me keeps holding back, thinking of the outline, of the pacing, of what needs to be established and accomplished to make this work. More than once today I had a little brainstorm moment hit me at school, and I had to hang onto it with both hands until I had the chance to dig out the phone and send myself a quick e-mail so I wouldn't forget the idea. Because when that happens? You have the cool idea strike and then you forget it? SUCKS. So much.

I would love to just knock my way through that 60,000 word wall tonight, and it's possible I can, but... arrrghh. Outline... mapping... resolution of building characters... moments of truth....

Maybe the title here fits better than I first realized....

Day 25

It's nice to meet the goal, but I so wish this meant that even just this first draft was actually finished.