I finished my first draft and now I’m revising. Will I finish my book this year? Will I ever truly finish my book!?
Dear Fellow Writer
Yes, you will finish this second draft—your revision! It’s possible you can finish this year; of course that depends upon how far along you’ve come. If you’re just starting out, you might give yourself a six-month (ballpark) window for your revision. Some of the timing will be determined by where you put your focus, and, I guarantee, you still are discovering so much about your story and characters. (I keep learning through revision and final polish.) Writing a novel is not the same as writing a how-to book, such as 10 Steps to Your Perfect Life! (If this book exists, it sounds a bit too good to be true, lol.)
It takes an investment of time to fulfill a novel, and when I say “fulfill”, I mean to write your best book and really give it TLC and tend to the details, even as you make sure the large tapestry is on the page in order for the reader to understand the “whole cloth.” Your job is to make sure your reader experiences your protagonist’s dilemma and “gets” the meaning you want to convey. We don’t just want to know what happens, we want to know what it means! Then it takes more investment to edit on the page by page level, going through scenes, paragraphs, sentences. And then there is the copy edit when a copy editor goes through all that again, asking questions of you the author. Did you mean A or did you mean B? Etc.
It is my privilege to experience the progress of writers in every stage of the process: the “first idea to final edit” thing. And many of these are very experienced writers. They ask the same question of themselves—Am I ever going to finish this? Will I finish it by the end of the year? In three months? In six months? Ever?!
Realize that as you write your novel you are also further developing your voice and building your technical skills. This takes time and it’s also a joy to know you are growing as a storyteller.
So, be open to the questions that have arisen. Check in with yourself to make sure you are not procrastinating and you are not resisting and letting the “gremlins” get the best of you. Instead, remember to embrace the process that will birth your very best book, and your style, and be true to your story’s emotional truth.
Will the new questions overwhelm you sometimes? Will fear loom sometimes? Yes and yes. When that happens, take a deep breath. Breath is free! So breathe and breathe and the overwhelm will ease and the richness and passion of your curiosity will take over. Ask yourself: “What forces push my characters to act as they do? Are they fully aware of those forces? Am I as the author fully aware of them? What do my characters want? What do they truly need? What primal human dilemma lives at the heart of my story? When I’m finished, will my reader have everything he needs to derive the true meaning of my story? Will she reach the end and close the book with a sigh of true satisfaction? Will the story live on within her?
Hang in there, writers, and have faith!
And know we want to hear from you—your challenges, your tips, your epiphanies! We are here to help!
Thank you for asking because I really need some help with writing my book. I have been trying all year but I need you to work with me. Could you give me your number so I could speak with you.
Thank you.