Finishing the First (Shitty) Draft…

I remember at university a fellow student spoke about what makes a writer. I remember she said, ‘I write, but does that make me a writer?’ I think it’s easy to be quite cynical about the creative process, but often her voice haunts me. Am I fraud? Am I average? Am I a writer?

Since writing My Brother George, I’ve really wanted to delve back into novel writing. I started this particular project during NaNoWriMo last year. If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, let me tell you…

What is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Writers spend the entire November month writing towards a 50 thousand word target. It’s intense but it often gets the bulk of a novel written, or at least helps solidify important plot points as you just crack on and write the damn thing!

Completing the (Shitty) Novel

I was so chuffed to complete my second year writing 50 thousand words in one month. It feels like one hell of an achievement and to any of you that have taken part, you bloody rock. I had a break and of course Christmas was a busy time, so when the New Year came I knew I needed to delve into the novel again. I started to look at it but every time I sat down to edit I became really disjointed internally when it came to switching from writing to editing. My head was so confuzzled but then, as if by fate, I was offered a wonderful opportunity with a fantastic human I know called Amber.

For six weeks I went from panic mode to finishing my first (shitty) draft.

I call it a shitty draft because there’s still SO muck work (editing) to do but the focus was actually completing the book in the first place. I think, from what I’ve read, the first draft should be shit. You know you’re doing it right if it is! It’s fair to say that if it was an excellent draft I’d probably be a famous author by now, so I think a shitty first draft is something to be proud of.

I haven’t stopped napping since this happened. It’s like I exhausted myself doing it, but it was so worth it. I’m excited about it, I’m looking forward to the second draft before I send it out to my Beta readers. I feel fueled by something so indescribable and I plan to ride that feeling for as long as it lasts.

I feel like I’ve learned so much the past year or so regarding novel writing, and I really feel passionate about the topic of this book. I hope it is published one day, but I suppose that relies on timing, a good book and the right agent. But who knows?

In the meantime I’m taking a few weeks off to breathe from the intensity of the weeks working my arse off on the book. I’m going to spend time writing short stories, dabbling in flash fiction and going back to my original love of writing poetry. I always thought I had to pick one, to choose and be one thing. But it’s not who I am. I might be better at one than the other, but I am all of them.

I am a writer.