The End

[Dansinger]

108,647 Words, 41 chapters. The End. (Of book 1)

I'm still in shock.

Now I have to lock it into a (virtual) drawer for a month or so, before the editing starts. I'm going to miss my friends so much!

[Gyppo]

Congratulations.  Yes, it's a special moment.

Also a bit like having an old friend move away for  while.  You know they'll be back, but the habit of their everyday company, the casual 'drop in for a coffee if you're in the area' takes a while to wear off.

But that gap between finishing the first draft and starting to edit is important.  You need time to disconnect from what is on the page and what is in your brain.

I would also recommend that when you do take it back out the drawer the first time you read it all the way through, taking a few general notes if you can't avoid the impulse.  But without editing 'on the fly'.  Try to read it as someone else would.  See if it holds together as a story, make a note of any  glaring gaps of discrepancies, but don't sweat the small details at this point.  If the storyline pulls you along, despite knowing where it's going, then that's a good thing.

After that you can put your nitpicking editorial eyes in and get all OCD about it.

Writing and editing are two very different skills.  The first is creative, building the structure or weaving the fabric.  The second is refining it without losing the overall vision.

There's a lot to be said for taking up a non-writing activity for a while if you have another interest.  Break out the tools and make something.  Using your brain in a different way for a while helps to create that essential gap ;-)

Once again, congratulations.

Gyppo

[Mark Hoffmann]

Congrats.

[Dansinger]

Thank you. 

And good suggestions, Gyppo. I'll keep them in mind. Will probably come back to this thread to reread them when I start editing on November 15 - and yes, I put that in my diary.

Today feels weird. Empty. I'm a bit lost. It will pass. I've done some online reading. Spent more time in the kitchen than usually on weekdays.

I'm trying to figure out how to schedule these next couple of weeks. I'll need to sew curtains. That's one of the first things on my list. I might also start plotting my next novel.

[Jo Bannister]

Yes, congratulations.  Big moment - enjoy it.

And yes again, the gap between writing and editing isn't wasted time, it's an important part of the process.  So important I find myself doing it before each re-editing session, and there could be four or five or six of them.  You need to distance yourself from what you were thinking when you were writing the book, or you won't know whether you're remembering what you actually wrote or what you meant to write.  (That description of the murderer's mother: have I covered that ground before?  It seems familiar.  But maybe that's because I only wrote it a month ago and that's what I'm remembering.)

I do it the other way round to Gyppo.  My first edit is about technicalities.  My second is about making sure the story works.  My third is about improving my writing.  Any subsequent ones come in the category of Rinse and Repeat.

[Dansinger]

Thank you, Jo.

I'm feeling so lost now, it's crazy. My routine has been disturbed and I'm having a hard time getting into a new one. I know I need to let the MS rest for a month, but I do wish it weren't necessary.

[Jo Bannister]

It is funny, isn't it? - all the time we're working on the book we're complaining about the time and energy it's sucking up and how nice it would be to have a life instead.  Then we finish work - and do we relish our new-found leisure?  Do we hell.

[Gyppo]

We're like drug addicts in that way.

[Dansinger]

You two are cracking me up.

No, I have actually enjoyed all the time I spent working on the book. Well, most of it. I don't want a life instead. This is my life. I hated the years I could barely write anymore, and couldn't figure out why. Turned out I was having to much of a "Real Life". Too many social stuff going on.

And then Corona came, and soon I could finally write again. Thanks to social distancing. I do know this now: I will continue to social distance, even after a cure/vaccin for corona has been found. I don't want to go back to before COVID. I just want to write.