If you were expecting an excerpt of the novel, I’m sorry to say that I’ll have to disappoint you. Here are my reflections on writing the novel.

It is universally known, if not necessarily accepted, that all things must inevitably come to an end. This extends to summer breaks, book series (Harry Potter anyone?), life, and yes, even the writing of a novel. I begin writing this post in the face of concluding my first legitimate novel. It is a weird feeling to be sure, having something that has dominated my waking thoughts since June 11, to be so close to being finished.

My goal for a full and complete novel has been 80,000 words, making slightly over 70,000 ideal for a first draft, knowing that I want to completely redo the beginning of the novel. But enough about numbers.

— 8/6/14

After all, numbers don’t’ make up the creation of a novel. Hard work, perseverance, sweat… these make up the creation of a novel. As do tears, writer’s block, frustration, and at times – sheer laziness. Certainly there have been days I have struggled to write. Indeed, some days I didn’t write a word. And other days, I wrote 6,000 words over the course of just a few hours (roughly 21 pages). I remember sitting down when I first started writing and trying to figure out if I would be able to finish the novel over the summer. And now, here I am days from finishing a week ahead of schedule.

Now these days I find myself allowing my mind to wander and start thinking about how I’m going to revise this novel, what changes I’m going to make to make it much better, and whether or not it will be any easier to follow through on, than writing the first draft has been.

— 8/7/14

I write to finish this post, now that I have finished the novel. It’s kind of a funny story how it had happened. I’d spent pretty much all day writing and finally it came to the late evening, and being utterly word weary, I took a break to watch a movie between writing the last chapter and the Epilogue. When I came back to my computer, I finally realized how exhausted I was. Thinking about the Epilogue I planned to write, I realized that I really didn’t like it. The ending I had written was so perfect, and I didn’t want the reader to be left with something less fitting. Words from one of my favorite authors, Rick Riordan, came floating back to me: epilogues take away from the readers’ imaginations. So, I decided to end it at the last chapter, which meant, I finished the novel two hours before I thought I was going to, and I hadn’t even realized it at the time.

Now I can sit back and sigh with relief. I have finished the novel. I have written from start to finish probably more than a dozen works:  some of them short stories, several of them novellas and two of them novels. None of them have seemed so tangible to me as this latest novel. I fully intend to run all the way with this one before my next project:  I intend to publish it. At times it has seemed daunting, but having finished perhaps the biggest single step in publishing a novel, it makes it easier to remember that all things come to an end. Even the writing of a novel.

— 8/11/14

Until Next Time,

Joe