IT'S DONE!!!

So that's it. The first draft of my novel is officially complete. Right now, I kinda feel like this:




I still can't believe it's true. In fact, at the moment, I'm still going through my manuscript tweaking bits here and there. I know I shouldn't, I know I should leave it for the edits but I've been working on this book so intensely for the last few weeks, I find it odd that I can finally...switch off.

I do apologise if I keep going on about this - but the fact is, apart from finishing my major project at uni, this is probably the biggest thing I've ever worked on and finished (well, apart from all the editing etc that now needs to happen...but let's not think about that yet...).

Tomorrow, I'm going to celebrate by dying my hair and baking a really really awesome cake. Hopefully it'll turn out like this one, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

I'm going to have to physically stop myself from looking at my book for a while now - this book has inhabited my mind so long, it's going to be strange not thinking about it every day. Although, I do need to write a sequel...does it defeat the purpose of getting the book 'out of your mind' if I start working on other books in the series...? Hmm...

And when I get back from my break, I have gems like this to edit and clean up:

"She was trying to go as fast as she could, but the sheer amount of people meant she was forced to go slower."

I know, I know - my literary prowess astounds me too.

Anyway. It's getting late (for me). I'm tired. I have been writing solidly for the last twelve hours. I am genuinely losing the ability to type coherent words (I just looked over this post and realised I wrote 'I no' instead of 'I know').

So until next time, happy writing and have an awesome bank holiday weekend, folks!

The light at the end of the tunnel...

I've been having a sick, twisty feeling in my stomach most of the afternoon.

Now, before you start backing away in horror and reaching for the face masks, it's not because I've contracted some kind of lurgy.

It's because I'm *this* close to finishing the first draft of my novel.

I have never gotten so far with one of my novels before, and while it's exhilarating and I can't help thinking of the millions in sales/the 1001 book deals/film deals that are obviously going to come my way the second I publish it, it's also incredibly scary.

I genuinely can't believe I've got this far. I know I'm not at the end of the road yet. I know I've still got a lot of work ahead of me before I can even think about publishing it, but to me, this is a big deal. 

Never before have I actually written the climax of my novel - you know, that epic scene(s) where everything comes crashing down and your MC has to fight for her life, save the one she loves, while defeating the bad guy with the twirly moustache in a battle to the death (if case you hadn't realised it yet, I have a flair for the dramatic...) - or y'know, whatever your novel's equivalent is.

These are the scenes that I've been imagining since the concept for my book first popped into my head. These are the elusive scenes I've been working towards, but never seriously thinking I'd get to. And today, I finally get to write them. The thought makes me want to squeal in excitement, and run away and hide at the same time. Am I up to writing these final scenes? Will I *gasp* actually manage to finish a book??

There's only one way to find out.

I'm not going to be blogging again until my first draft is finished. So you could very well see me in a day, a few days or a few weeks. But however long it takes, my story that started out as a tiny little idea way back in March will finally resemble something that looks like a book. An actual book.

I'll see you on the other side.

Today I was forced to do something I haven't done in a very long time....

...I drank coffee.

Yes, that's right, coffee. I only drink coffee in the direst circumstances i.e. if I'm forced to get up ridiculously early to go on holiday, or if I have a deadline to work to. Today, it was the latter.

But it wasn't just the deadline that had me reaching for the Nescafe and a large teaspoon of sugar. Today, I simply didn't want to write.

If you've caught my Twitter over the last few days, you may have noticed I've been celebrating writing 7,000 words a day. It's my goal that by the end of the summer holidays (actually, earlier than that as I'm going away for a few days next week) I'll have finished the first draft of my novel, Synthetica.

I am unbelievably close to finishing - out of the 17 page detailed synopsis I wrote a few months ago, I have 5 pages left to flesh out. 5! This is the closest I've ever come to finishing an actual novel, and I am over the moon about it.

However, this does mean that I'm currently writing like crazy. I love it, but at the same time, I ended up hitting the dreaded wall today. I just did not want to write. At all. I don't know if it's because I took a bit of a break over the weekend and got out of the swing of it, or if the writing frenzy of last week was finally catching up with me, or if it's because The Engineer woke me up in the middle of the night to change bedrooms (don't ask).

So today, I procrastinated by baking and doing jobs around the house, before going for a walk in a last ditched attempt to clear my head. I ended up writing 3,000 words - and although I wish it was closer to 7,000, at least it's something. And that's cheered me up slightly - every other time I've hit the wall in my writing, I've left it for days, or weeks, or sometimes abandoned the novel altogether.

So at least it's progress. I'm hoping tomorrow after a good night's sleep, I'll be back on form :).

How's your writing going? Let me know!