A question I think I’ve largely answered in my mind, but will admit publicly here now. I’ve already poured through the 1st Draft of my novel, “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” and have all of my notes down, but I still need to go through the second draft and do the rewrite on paper. Sounds like a plan, you might say, but then enters the possibility of a new idea for my next novel that came to me shortly before completing the last one. Add to that, the NaNoWriMo event in November, which challenges writers to complete a 50,000 page novel in the month of November. I suppose I could use the NaNoWriMo event to do the rewrite, but considering I won’t be really writing 50,000 words in the process, it doesn’t seem right.
So I’ve decided to take a non-traditional route and use the November event to begin writing my second novel, even before completing the rewrite of the first. Now this is the point where you might expect me to hang my head in shame,..but it’s not. I fully intend, and am quite anxious to complete my first novel, but the NaNoWriMo event is quite motivating and I want to get the most out of it. If I don’t have 50,000 words to rewrite on my 1st draft, I fear I’d waste some momentum.
So here I go, doing the nontraditional move and trying to get my outline together for book number two, before one is even completed. Yes,…there is guilt involved. My first novel isn’t even born yet and I’m looking forward to the creative process of writing the next one. Admittedly,…rewriting your first draft isn’t as exciting as getting into a brand new story. Realizing that you had characters start in one scene, then they just disappeared entirely, or finding sentences you’d written that you can’t figure out what you were trying to say. These are the mechanics of rewriting your first draft, which still involves creativity to make the book a hopefully good read, but isn’t as exhilarating as getting into an entirely new story.
But here I promise,… to the world and myself,.. that right after this NaNoWriMo event, I’m going back to the rewrite of my first novel to finish what I started. And when that is done, I’ll find a good proofreader to make the final polish, and will then self publish “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” while also looking for an Agent to get it to a traditional publishing house. From there, I can then work on finishing the first draft of my second novel, which won’t be completed even if I am able to write 50,000 words in November. God willing.