I’m writing my first novel.
The draft will be around 120,000 words, if my outline is even remotely accurate. I’ve been trying to put down 1,000 words a day since the beginning of the month. That’s an ambitious daily goal for a slow writer like me, and I’m not quite making it, but I’m getting closer with each day.
I’m finding some comforting parallels between this effort and the 4 months I spent training for my first marathon, which I ran the day before I started writing this novel. Getting up early to run or write, grinding out 10 miles or three pages when I’d rather be reading or having a leisurely breakfast (especially when my goal was 12 miles or five pages) and then knowing I have to do it again tomorrow… it can be miserable, but the delight and satisfaction that comes from the cumulative result far outweighs the disappointments.
My posting schedule here will continue to be sporadic as I dedicate my daily commutes and lunch breaks to the novel. My goal is to get the first 30,000 words done as quickly as possible, then take a break to write more here and focus on Werewolves Versus Music while that first quarter draft mellows. In the meantime, I appreciate your patience and your continued readership.
I’m superstitious and shy and I’ve learned to under-promise and over-deliver, so I’ll share just two things about this novel for now. The working title is “Lilly & Jack”, and one of those two people is a werewolf.