I've always enjoyed writing and over the years I've written short stories that I've never attempted to publish, some magazine articles that have sold and some that haven't, and an annual Christmas letter that friends and family seem to appreciate. I've toyed with the idea of writing a novel for years, and finally realized that I need to either actually do it or wait for the next lifetime.
So...I decided to go for it. I decided that one year was a reasonable time frame to write a novel - the last thing I wanted to do was have it drag on and be three quarters finished five years later.
I started in March 07 and blocked out the year (actually 13 months) into various goals. The story is a journey for my protagonist and I set dates for each major stop in the narrative, with a rough-draft-complete goal of mid-November (the rough was finished mid-December). After a holiday break I started on the first rewrite with a completion goal of 15 Feb, which requires 3.3% per day of progress. Upon completion of the second draft I'll send it to family and friends, get feedback, and continue to rewrite and polish until it is as good as I can make it by 31 Mar 08. The first query letters are scheduled to go out 01 Apr, assuming that I feel it is good enough to warrant the effort.
So, why the blog? Two reasons.
First, the blog serves as a kind of journal of the project, which I thought would be fun to look back upon when finished. Second, and more importantly, it serves as a public declaration that I intend to see this through. By throwing down and then picking up my own gauntlet in front of the whole internet I put pressure on myself to complete the project as planned.
Second Draft Current Stats:
Today's goal: 48.5%
Today's status: 48.6% in work
So, I'm ahead of schedule, which is still unfamiliar territory.
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