Leaping Over Hill: Second Draft Finished

I did it!

My second draft of my novel is finished in it’s entirety! Would you look at that! After having overcome so much it’s almost bittersweet to know that I’m done with it. At least for now. The best part of it too? I shaved off 20,000 words. I say that’s a good redraft effort.

It’s funny, things that took me by surprise in this draft was just how immersed I was in it. I’ve missed the better part of last week because I was either immersed in reading and firing my inspiration up or I was writing. I was also moaning about the resistance I kept feeling when I was writing this draft. It happened to some degree in the first draft but I was at my gorgeous friend’s house and had no choice but keep going. My way of coping with the resistance was to read two books back to back. Just like that. In recent years, reading has really taken a back step, mostly because I’ve done other writing, study and my novel.

I missed it.

I crave for a time before the internet when I was 14 and I used to borrow 20 books from the library and read all of them within a month on the weekends. I would lock myself in my room, put the music up very loud (my poor parents, sorry Mum!), and read and read. Books have always been my way of escaping and I never thought that I would be so passionate about writing a book myself. I love it. It’s work, but its good work. It’s the kind of work that I can see myself doing and enjoying for the rest of my life.

Writing gives my life meaning and I was struggling. When no words came and I was busy staring at a page that just wouldn’t write itself, I felt empty. Devoid of anything that gave my life meaning. I felt lost and unsure of what I was for a bit there, but then I found it and the procrastireading I did helped. I finished the draft and now, as I go back through to fix up spellings and put in dates, I’m one step away from handing it over to beta readers to get their opinions on it.

It’s nerve wracking just thinking about that and part of me wants to stall that moment, but I know that I need it. The manuscript appraisal I won last year helped infinitely. It can’t help to get more opinions. I need to figure out if the book works. It works for me but does it work for others? That’s going to be the challenge.

Have you guys finished anything that has completely consumed you? Tell me about it and how you felt about it. Game of Thrones Marathon anyone?