Ever wonder how someone actually writes a book for the first time? Someone who has a job and kid and a family and a household to take care of.
And at this point, you may or may not know—writing a book and having that book be ready for publication are two entirely different things. Writing a book might take a month, a few months (like in my case), even a few years. But then editing that book, usually several times from start to finish, could take years. Often takes years. Especially when this is your first or second or third rodeo and you don’t yet have a professional editor to jump in and save you when you’re about to set your manuscript on proverbial fire. Proverbial, only because we write on screens nowadays. Otherwise, yes, there would definitely be flames involved.
I don’t know how others do it, but I have lived through my own experience of drafting and editing my first novel, so I thought I’d outline it for you.
The Timeline of Writing and Editing My First Novel
2021 April — I received what I call the ‘Big Magic Spark’! I had, for years, thought I’d one day write a book inspired by my grandmother’s life. But then in April 2021, I became deeply connected with my great-grandmother’s life story. In (very) short, I realized my great-grandmother had come to America from rural Poland with her husband, birthed a few children, and then returned with those children to Poland in the 1920s. Being a new mother myself, the idea of this reality left me literally speechless. My curiosity about what this might’ve been like for her then birthed this new, fictional story in my mind that would eventually become KATHRIN.
2021 July — Looking back on my journal entries in July of 2021, almost daily my journaled thoughts pertained to how much I wanted to write but wrestling with the fact I wasn’t yet writing. I felt I had ‘so much to get out’ but no idea where to start. I eventually realized, after about a month of existential struggle (of which writers are often oh-so familiar), that it wasn’t that I didn’t know where to start. The problem was that I was afraid I’d be absolutely horrific at writing once I did start. Ah hah.
2021 Sept 29 — I enrolled in The Novelry’s 90 Day Novel Course + The Big Edit Course.
I had found The Novelry’s website at some point in the years before. Remembered, vaguely that I had a secret board on Pinterest where I had saved some writing resources for when the time came that I would finally try to write something. Found The Novelry pin I had saved long ago, clicked through, reviewed the course options, and went for it.
2021 Oct 01 — I officially began The Novelry’s 90 Day Novel Course and started writing every day. My initial goal was to write 250 words a day and once that became easy, I bumped it to 500. By the end of October, my daily word count goal was 1,000, which is where it stayed until I finished the first draft.
2021 Dec 31 — Truly in the eleventh hour, I “finished” the first draft at about 65,000 words. I knew it had holes in it and it’d need more editing than I could even conceive of at that point, but the shitty first draft was done.
2022 Spring — Throughout the Spring, I did a hybrid by-chapter and sometimes by-line edit. This isn’t usually the first edit someone embarks on, but for me, I felt I needed to get into the actual words to figure out what I had written. I honestly couldn’t remember how some chapters and sections had played out because I was in such a trance as I had drafted them. This edit was an effort to learn what I had written and let that in-the-weeds view make way for a more zoomed-out, universal view. From the universal view, only then could I make decisions about what to edit about the novel’s structure.
2022 June — I went on a solo ‘editing retreat’ to ‘make big progress with my manuscript’. I have to laugh at this now because that intention, while it was well-meaning, did not manifest. Instead, I read through my current draft, marking up the printed copy here and there, feeling overwhelmed by the thought of embarking on the structural edit (there was SO MUCH to do!), and eventually deemed my ‘editing retreat’ and ‘personal retreat’, filling my four glorious days with reading, walking, fishing, paddelboarding, antiquing, and eating instead. No regrets. I am a firm believer in you just can’t force this stuff. So, I didn’t.
2022 Fall — This is when I dove into the structural edit. I removed a central character, strengthened the presence of another character that had been in the background but now needed to be in the foreground, reworked relationship dynamics, and did several themed ‘sweeps’. These sweeps included editing around the presence of light in my settings, environmental settings in general, dialogue flow, and others.
2022 December — I put together my first submission package (query letter, first three chapters, and synopsis) to be reviewed by a Deputy Editor at The Novelry, which was part of The Big Edit Course I had enrolled in. When finished, I thought this submission package was SUPERB! The best this editor had ever seen. I was so excited to get her feedback. And while she was gracious, her feedback was not what I had hoped for. There was still work to be done. In retrospect, of course there was. Of course.
2023 January — I reworked the submission package and thought, ‘Okay this is it! She’s going to be so impressed with the changes I made and she’ll be happy to send it on to agents!’ Uh, no. That’s not how that call went. Back to the submission package drawing board.
2023 February — After a brief stint in Self-Pity Central, I swallowed the pill of reality and got back to work. I reworked the submission package from tip to tale, line by line, word by word, ‘bird by bird’. (Love you, Anne.) It’s now the best it’s ever been. Is it enough? I sure hope so.
Life Context:
Because no book has ever been written and edited and prepared for publication in a vacuum. Especially as a female author. So let’s give some context to my life over the past couple of years as I’ve drafted and edited this thing.
2021 January — I birthed my first baby. Enough said.
2021 January to December — I was on complete and total maternity leave with zero child care. I was the child care.
2022 January to June — My child and I transitioned to a new schedule where I worked part-time (2 days a week) in my consulting business, and was in Mom Mode the other 5 days of the week.
2022 June — We then transitioned to 5 days a week full-time work and day care (and yes, all the sickness that comes with that) and 2 days a week in Mom Mode.
What’s Next?
As of late February 2023, my next step is to get feedback from my fellow writers in The Novelry community. I feel I need some peer feedback before submitting to the Deputy Editor again. I’ll keep tweaking that submission package until I feel it’s truly, truly ready.
As I’ve edited this submission package, I’ve discovered a few little bits of the story that could use some tinkering deeper in the manuscript. A more lush description here, a resolving tie-in there. So, as the inspiration hits, those touches will be added.
From a career-as-a-published-author standpoint, I’ll be doing my research into agents and who I’d most like to work with. I know the relationship between me and my future agent is already forming and they’re on their way to me, while I’m on my way to them, right now. (You’re welcome for the slightest dose of woo to finish this out.)
As things progress, I’ll come back to this blog post and update. Thanks for reading!
