I am writing a novel. This process started in April 2011, shortly after I quit my last job with a law firm and started working from home as a contract attorney.
I have wanted to be a novelist for as long as I can remember, but I mostly abandoned creative writing after I started law school. I always had an excuse. I'll start writing after the bar exam. I'll start writing after this trial is over. I'll start writing when I have a job with more "balance." I'll start writing after I have kids. I'll start writing after I retire. I'll start writing after I'm dead. In April 2011, I decided, Eff it, I'll start writing NOW. I started going to coffee shops and spent long hours writing.
Between April and December 2011, I started a few different novels, all involving the same cast of core characters. These novels were all "fluffy." Two were wedding comedies (inspired by my own July 2011 wedding); one was a dating novel. I didn't feel like I was writing the best novel I could write, but they were good reasons to keep me writing.
A day or two after Christmas 2011, while I was taking a shower in Nebraska, I realized what story I wanted to write. And that's all I'm going to say, because I need to reread the first draft before I commit to a plot summary! (But I will say that it was the most productive shower of my life).
Since the New Year, I have been working steadily on this novel. To date, I have written 189,667 words. In my Word document, that's 428 pages typed in Times New Roman Size 12 font. (And I thought my 150 page history thesis about Ben Franklin's autobiography was long).
I think I have about another 10 pages to write AND THEN THE FIRST DRAFT IS DONE. Depending on how the spirit moves me, this could take just a few days or maybe a few weeks to write.
I want to take my time with these final pages of my first rough draft of my first novel. They deserve as much thought and love as the first 428 pages. But holy crap, I am so ready to be done with the first draft. So if I don't blog much over the next few weeks, it's because I'm giving all my creative energy to my novel.
Then again, I might start blogging more than ever. Sometimes procrastination is the best type of inspiration.
