Monday, September 10, 2012

Finished!

I'm finished with life, damnit!

No, no.  But just a few minutes ago I finished the first draft of my book on my bike trip last summer.  You can all bow down metaphorically to me now.  I'll give you a slight pause to do so....................  Ok, now that you have properly praised and honored me I'll continue.

The first draft is just over 50,000 words.  Think back to your college application days when you may have had to write a 250-500 page essay and you'll get a sense for how many pages 50,000 words is.  It's not a ton by any means but a good amount.  It's especially a good amount considering how rough the draft is: notes are everywhere reminding me to add information here and a stories there; I left almost all of the first chapter for later.  Anything that did not immediately come to my mind or, for a piece of information, not immediately available in my face, I left for later.  Also, I plan on returning to my blog and journal from the days I was on my trip to see if I simply forgot certain ideas or stories.  My estimation is that when I'm done I'll have written at least 60,000 words, which will form a nice little book.

Even if I still have lots of work to do, adding and then editing everything, it is good to have gotten through to the end.  Until I finish a work to the end I always work sluggishly because I'm constantly thinking of new ideas but have no idea where to put them because I haven't finished yet, and the question, "When will I ever finish this friggin thing!?" weighs more and more on my mind until, indeed, I get through the first draft.  So you might not think a barely finished, not at all polished work of writing is worth celebrating, but for me it is.  The process of adding may take a little while, but I love the process of editing and that never takes me long.  By the end of October, then, I should be all done.

Because my hard work reached a milestone today you can darn well expect me to take a little break from writing.  So you might not see another post here from me until the weekend.  Adios, amigos.

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