First Draft Finished!

Yesterday at 1:44 p.m. Atlantic Time, I wrote "THE END" at the end of my latest WIP! (I was calling it "Eleven" to differentiate it from other WIPs in my "to write" file)

DRAFT ONE STATS:
Length: 135 pages
Word Count: 77 477
Chapters: 17
Started: February 20, 2014.
Finished: May 29, 2014.
Length of time from starting main file to finishing: 3 months, 9 days, writing part time.

This may the third first draft I've finished in less than three years, but it's the first one that isn't over 200K. It's been quite a learning experience to go from a more complicated story to one that isn't filled with a million plot twists. I'm still learning so I'm not sure if this one will be deemed "up to snuff" for publishers anytime soon. We'll see what the beta team says.

Now the real fun and work begins - editing it in entirety for the first time before it goes out to my beta team in the fall.

Thanks, both of you! It hasn't hit me that it's done yet and it's still rather disconcerting to see "THE END" in the file, even though I'm now working in Draft 2. When it sinks in, I'll be going into full on wonky mode, which is not pretty!

Thanks everyone! I did some revisions yesterday and I am pleased with the progress on that front so far. There's still a lot to do but I'll get it done, before and after my betas get their paws on it.

I put it into stasis for the summer at 6:28 p.m., ADT today. It will stay there until September 4th or 5th, depending on when school starts in my district.

Thanks Axl! I'm hoping where mine will be in stasis for three months, I'll be able to see a lot of the errors and catch them before my alpha reader and beta team get it in the fall. I'm going to have enough lumps on the head as it is when they see anything I miss, I don't want any more than necessary!

And good luck in your revisions! Finishing that first draft is one feeling that doesn't get any less exciting no matter how many times you've done it. This is the third time I've finished a novel length manuscript and the high was just as great as it was the first time around.

Thanks Lanaa, and I am still going... I'm into one that was started before this one, and I'm hoping to put "THE END" on it sometime this fall or in the coming winter!

Thanks Julianne!

I'm really surprised I'm writing something right now. Normally my brain needs a three month or so break from it to recharge, but something is pushing me to get this latest one finished. Maybe the fact I had started the latest WIP before I started the one I just finished could be why.

I don't care, I'm writing and that's all that matters.

Thanks both of you!