Mountain of Whispers first draft completed

Posted on May 1, 2010 (Subscribe to Blog)

I had a long writing day yesterday and managed to finish the first draft of Mountain of Whispers. For some reason I struggled with the second-to-last chapter; it was really difficult. The last chapter was much easier though, as I already had a short list of things I wanted to finish with and just went from that. I'm really pleased with the very last scene and think it's a great way to end the trilogy (while leaving it very open for a fourth book later).

I wrote from about 1:15pm to 7:00pm without stopping. The wife and child had gone out to Atlanta for the day, so I rolled up my figurative sleeves and got stuck in. I may have taken a toilet break at some point (although now I think about it there's a funny smell on my chair) but the first time I really noticed the time was around 6pm when my stomach started to rumble. I realized that I hadn't had dinner, but didn't want to stop as I was getting to the conclusion. So I kept going until the end.

In all I wrote about 7400 words (about one and a half chapters) yesterday, which is one of my more mammoth efforts (normally I'll get in 2500-4500). In fact I only remember one other occasion when I wrote 7000+ in one day, so I really must have been in the zone! It staggers me that Enid Blyton wrote 10,000 a day on average. The mind boggles.

So now the editing starts. My first edit is on the computer. There's usually a lot of minor alterations to words and sentences during the first sweep; it's a case of reading and re-writing as I go. Sometimes I might go a whole page without editing anything, but that's rare. I might get through 1-4 chapters a day during the first sweep, depending on time and how much I have to change.

Because time is marching on I'll probably send it out to my proofers after the first edit, and then continue with my second edit on paper -- I'll print and read it all through again, and put little red circles everywhere. The proofers will no doubt be doing the same, so I'll end up with a bunch of corrections to make.

I still intend launching in June. :-)

Comment by MING on Saturday, May 1, 2010...

Hurrah! Good luck with the editing! :-)

Comment by BRIAN B. on Saturday, May 1, 2010...

Well done!

Comment by HEATHER on Sunday, May 2, 2010...

Wonderful - I won't tell Ashley until I have a chance to read it first!

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