First Draft COMPLETE

You know what? Let's start with the good news first. It's finally here folks, a huge milestone in my writing endeavors. I HAVE FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT OF MY BOOK!! That's right--two and a half years after I first thought of the idea, I finally have it all down in writing. Plus, yesterday I painted what I wanted the cover to look like! Here's what I got.

Now, time to clean up the actual writing. I've read many articles that say this part can be horrible and tedious.

But I'm gonna be real--I'm totally stoked. There is something so satisfying about getting a paragraph to read really well isn't there? So hopefully it won't take another two years till it's polished, but I am ready to start taking out some of the garbage I know is in there and clean it up nice:)

I need to give a super special thanks to Nanowrimo and Camp Nano--without these month-long challenges pushing me along, I would still probably be only half way done! Seriously, I wrote half the book in just those two challenge months. Go figure. (Even if the writing was what my friend Whitney calls a "zero draft", AKA the very first, unfiltered words to fall out onto the page, that may or may not make any sense, but hey they're better than white space.)

Speaking of Whitney, I want to give another big thanks to my writing group members--they also pushed me along in a major way, and the edits they give me on my work are invaluable! Jon, Whitney and Travis, thanks so much to you kids! I'm super excited to keep working with you and get all of our manuscripts finished and up to snuff. (To check out what Whitney and Travis are writing, lookie here at their witandtravesty blogspot! It looks even better than mine. As far as Jon, I don't believe he has a blog. But he's brilliant, so when he does get one I'll definitely let you know.)

Here's what you can expect from me in the future: Next time,  another snippet from my novel--thoroughly edited and polished. I've ALSO been doing a lot of research, as my novel got close to being finished, on how to market your own book, and where and what to do--I will definitely share some of those tips. Thanks for reading, I appreciate all your support too!

~Jess