Two Years – Five Drafts

Two years ago this month (January 10th to be exact), I started writing, and writing, and writing, and haven’t stopped. With no experience whatsoever, I finished a novel in 5 months. I didn’t know what else to do at that point but send it out. Yes, I was clueless. It stunk of course, but one agent was nice enough to include some direction in her rejection letter. I researched every piece of advice she’d given me then dug back in. This time I knew the task of writing a good novel was more than I could handle on my own. So, I signed up for a class through Word’s Worth Writing Center (www.wordsworthdayton.com). I highly recommend this place! The class was taught by uber talented author Katrina Kittle (www.katrinakittle.com). Draft #2 showed improvement over draft #1. Then more classes and workshops through Word’s Worth and Antioch Writer’s Workshop (www.antiochwritersworkshop.com) helped drafts #3 and #4 get better still.

A full manuscript read through from some awesome trusted writer friends in November has kept me pecking away at the keyboard for the last couple months working on the biggest revisions yet. Last night, one day ahead of my plan, I finished draft #5. WooHooo! It is still a draft that needs to be smoothed and polished, and it could have more revisions in its future, but I’m one step closer. Yay!