Bernadette Benda

I think this might be the draft (2nd draft) I’m most proud of. My draft of Oh, Wonder Why the Sun Fell is finished (also titled The Time I Accidentally Wrote a Steampunk Fantasy).

(I wrote a little about my 1st draft of this here.)

Not because I think it’s the best I’ve written (the last draft of this novel was such trash I don’t even know at this point), but because the writing of it went so well.

Like the baby just slipped right on out.

I started in June and planned to finish it by August 1. I wrote a 2,000 words a day minimum, five days a week.

AND I DID IT. I FINISHED IT ON TIME at 84,000 words. Not that it was super easy, but somehow I cranked out that word count in 2 hours every morning. I’m not really sure how, but somehow it happened.

I do think it helped that I knew where the story was going to end, so all I had to do was get there. I think that more than anything helped me finish. The only drawback was that I was so focused on the ending that side plots kinda got left behind…sorry guys.

Well anyway it’s done, so now what?

First of all, I rewarded myself by cleaning out my closet. Yes, cleaning was my reward. But it was just one of those things that needed to get done, but didn’t need to get done. And also cleaning out my closet is always fun. It’s like going on a scavenger hunt and discovery all the things I forget I had and coming to recognize the fact that I have a lot of clothes and I’m not getting rid of any of them. And also that I have a random amount of World War I and II paraphernalia (mostly acquired through flea markets).

The next thing I have to do is print my draft out and stick it in a drawer (actually it will probably go under my couch where my printer and manuscripts hide, next to the foam roller and the kettle bells).

Then I won’t read it because I have other things to work on.

LIKE EDITING SILVER.

But here’s an aesthetic for you to feast your eyes upon.

There’s just so many things I love about this story and really hope that I can pull it together into an actually novel, not just the plot spilled out haphazardly (which is how a first draft feels).

I think it’s also the first thing I’ve written that I feel has a really obvious theme: responsibility. 

I just feel like that word works for every character’s arc.

Anyway, that’s enough of my blabbing. Time for some questions for you: do you do anything to celebrate finishing a writing project? Do your stories have obvious themes? Do you print out you manuscript after it’s finished? And what have you, etc.

Peace out.

.