Writing Blog

20220606 Finished A Tale

May 31, 2022, 9:00am

I finished my latest novel. Finally. Well, finished the first draft.

This one was like pulling teeth. I started it in February and it's taken me until now to get it done, 90k words.


Now... There are many writers out there who will look at that and ask what the hell is wrong with me.

Normally, a first draft I complete in 6 weeks for 80k words. For this to have taken 4 months is, for me, insane. It's way too long.

Now, I say this for two reasons.

1) This is a blog about my writing. This is a writing thing.

2) To remind people - DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER WRITERS!
         We are all different, we all complete our work and write in different ways, we all have different expectations. For some, completing that first draft in 10 years is an achievement. For others (like Lionel Fanthorpe), taking more than 4 weeks for a novel is a personal failure.
         So, for me, with the way I churn out my writing, 4 months is too long. I struggled so hard to make the story compelling, I struggled to make my MCs feel realistic and I ended up changing the ending four times before I was happy with the way it turned out.
         And after all that, this is one of the weaker novels I've written in many a year. So why keep going? Because I knew I could finish it and I wanted it finished to get the idea out of my head.

So, please, we are all on a writing journey, but our journeys are unique. Comparisons do not work. Do your own thing and all will be well.