In Which I Get Giddy About First Drafts...

Hey guys! Remember that book I was writing? Yeah, I finished it today. I mustered my inner ninja cyborg and hammered out about 37k words in 2.5 weeks (total word count = 58k). I totally could have rocked NaNoWriMo if I had more book to write. (This is actually why I don't do NaNoWriMo—I do not have a problem getting a first draft down. All the editing after that? Yeah...maybe I should do NaNoEdMo...)

That First-Draft-Done high is awesome. I'm basking in it, guys. Oh, I know the book needs a lot of work, but it's there. I have a whole book, start to finish. It even has a plot this time! Actually, I'm pretty proud of this plot. But I have been working on this book on and off for a year (not to mention I tucked the idea into my "you can't write that yet" pile like three years ago), so it had a lot of time to marinate.

I know we all have different relationships with the first draft. Heck, we have different relationships we every first draft we write, don't we? But I gotta say I still love finishing a book for the first time. I guess it's the closest a writer can get to reading their book like a reader—there's a discovery and excitement you can't quite get back in revisions. Oh, revisions can be rewarding, but it's not the same feeling, it's not holy-crap-I-just-wrote-a-WHOLE-BOOK. It's more like holy-crap-this-book-finally-looks-SHINY.

Do you want to know stuff about it? I've kept this book pretty close to my chest, especially in comparison to some of my other ones. I should at least throw out a few random facts:

• It's contemporary YA. Yes, I wrote a book with no creatures, special powers, or even explosions. I'm kind of questioning my identity, actually.

• There is a car named Puke.

• The MC secretly listens to James Taylor.

• There is a good girl, a bad girl, and a girl in the middle.

• There is a weekly Anime marathon night. And cat ears.

• Also, the MC plays football. He's a running back.

• Basically, it's a weird book, but what else would you expect from me?

*Happy sigh*

Did I mention I finished writing a book today? Oh, I did, huh. I really didn't think I'd be able to say that this year, and I am so, so thankful that I get to. I love my little, misshaped book baby, and I kind of hope that someday you'll get to see it all growed up.