This is what my book looks like right now. 111 pages, 46,313 words, 14 chapters. There's still a bit to go. I think I'm going to need around 60,000 words to finish it, meaning I'm about 70% done. I started this book last year for NANOWRIMO in November.
I've heard on average, it takes about a year to write a book, so at least I'm on track with everyone else.
It's interesting to go back and read portions I wrote months ago. I love that I can see my character changing. Obviously, she's based on me to an extent so it's been a challenge to move her into areas that I might not be comfortable in myself. I've put her in situations that I've never been in, so it's funny to see what 'she' does with them. I've had an interesting time watching my characters do things that even I didn't expect.
It's been a challenge in thinking on a large scale. Trying to keep each chapter interesting while still maintaing an arc to the story as a whole. I've had to create a cheat sheet to keep all my characters straight. In the beginning, I jumped around, writing whatever portion struck me at the time. So recently I've been piecing everything together, working to make it all make sense.
I've really enjoyed it. I'm terrible about finishing things, as this is technically my sixth attempt at writing a book (if you count the book about coping with divorce I started at age 12 and the demented murder mystery I started at 14). I still plan on writing two of the others, another fiction and a memoir of sorts (frankly, I hate calling it a memoir, that seems like I think I'm important or something).
And while it has been fun, (please ignore the pun) I'm really ready to move on to the next chapter. But finishing this is something I have to do, so I'm going to. (Ignore the fact that I'm currently avoiding it by writing this.) Either way, if it ends up I can't get an agent and sell it, I fully expect you guys to download a copy and pretend to read it!
