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Hello Beautiful Blogosherians! I have some great news to report. You all may remember back in January, I conducted a personal experiment by challenging myself to write 8,000 words a day in ten days to write a first draft of my novel. I hit the wall on day six, and had about 50,000 words to work with. In the nine months since then, I have taken that big hunk of words, broken it into sections, using Scrivener, massaged it, re-wrote it, re-dreamed it, and as of today, I have 87,243 words. This version is finished!
This version, yes, now I have to export it out of Scrivener into Word, and in that process it will get another once over, then it will go to my lovely beta readers for their input and once they find all my mistakes, there will be another round of corrections. It feels like a never-ending process, so when there are big milestones, like today, I like to take a break and celebrate!
As it turns out, tomorrow happens to be the Autumnal Equinox, and I love celebrating the cooler days, and here in Hawaii it is the signal for the rainy season, and my parched yard is very thirsty and looking forward to some much needed rain. It is one of the two days in the year when the length of the day and the night are equal.
Which got my little brain thinking, what would be a great way to celebrate the day, and my accomplishment? Normally, I would go and buy myself a nice reward, like a brownie, or a hot fudge sundae, or a ginormous Cinnamon roll. But since I have given up sugar and wheat based carbs, those choices are off the list. What I have come up with is odd, but then, I am. It is a clip from the movie “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.” What, what, why? you ask? I will tell you. I love this scene with Gary Oldman playing Rosencrantz and Tim Roth as Guildenstern, playing a game of “questions” (1990 Written & Directed by the amazing Tom Stoppard).
Yes, fun with words, what a better way to celebrate the completion of a new draft. Have a great weekend all, and thank you so much for stopping by.
Alana said:
That’s amazing, Rachel! I can’t imagine writing 50,000 words in six days…I’ve never even finished NaNoWriMo. And what’s even more amazing is that you kept going and finished a full draft. Can’t wait to hear more about the book!
Prudence MacLeod said:
That’s an awesome piece of work, Rachel. Congrats. Actually, that’s the best way to get the first draft done. Just bang it out then take a hard look at it. Oh, I love the clip. Great fun!
Rachel Funk Heller said:
Thanks guys, it is such a great experience to really, really push yourself and see what comes out of it. Even though the first 50,000 words were uneven and out of order, all the elements for a great story were there. It’s like they are all hidden threads and you just have to be patient enough to tease them out. Have a great weekend.
patodearosen said:
Congrats on every one of those 87,243 words!
Louise Behiel said:
Congratulations. major accomplishment, Rachel. how do you like Scrivener? want to write a post about it?
Rachel Funk Heller said:
Louise, I couldn’t have done this without Scrivener! I had one file where I did all of my first draft, I had separate sections for research, character studies. Then as I moved the first draft sections into the main manuscript, there were areas for notes, as I came up with new ideas to deepen the story. There is also a way to color code each scene by day, or character, or plot segment — however you want to do it. So, I guess I better get busy.
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Jenny Hansen said:
Rachel, I’m rapidly becoming a HUGE fan of Scrivener. i’m taking a class in it right now and i love it!
Sheila Seabrook said:
WTG, Rachel! What a great feeling to accomplish such a huge task. Congratulations! BTW, I love Scrivener … love it, love it, love it. The program makes it so easy to work on the differents sections of the book and really helps keep the structure under control.
chadcarver said:
Congratulations, Rachel. I envy your talent, and your discipline. 🙂
Kassandra Lamb said:
Rachel, as I come down the homestretch of polishing a book I wrote in the summer of 2011, I can assure you that there is eventually a point where you say, “Stick a fork in it. It’s done!” So congratulations on reaching this important milestone. Your baby will soon be a published work! So excited for you!
Rachel Funk Heller said:
Thanks everyone, I couldn’t have made it without the encouragement from all my lovely peeps.
August McLaughlin said:
Huge congrats, Rachel! Success most definitely worth celebrating. 🙂
angelapeart said:
You are my hero, Rachel. Wow, this is an amazing word count in just a few days.
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