Ten Years In The Making
I’ve pretty much decided I want these blog posts to be informal. They’ll be more in the form of a fireside chat! So, I’m beyond happy to have received such an amazing welcome on social media with the website launch and profile updates. With more talk of the book release spreading, I’ve been getting a lot of questions, which is great! I love talking about the book or the journey!
So, beyond the initial shock of someone realizing I wrote a novel (and a lengthy one at that!) probably the most frequent question I get besides, “What’s it about!?” is “How long did that take you?”
Ten years. Crazy right? Spending ten years on a single project. For me, each week had a goal. I set out to accomplish ‘X’. When I started all this, I didn’t see the finish line ten years later. I just knew what I wanted to do.
I made it a goal, every single week, to spend at least eight hours one day writing until I finished the book. I would even take stay-cations so I could spend entire weeks on the book. For the first several months of when I truly dedicated myself, all I did was eat, sleep, and write. Looking back, I was barely scratching the surface. Now, for what compelled me to this level of dedication is a story for another blog post. I’ll also explain ‘how it all started’ in another post as well!
To be fair, the writing portion actually took seven years in order to complete the first draft of the manuscript. Now, as a writer, I feel as though that I’m never allowed to use the expression “I can’t put into words,” but finishing the final the last sentence left me speechless. I felt vacant, lost and like a bundle of fireworks ready to explode any minute! Just raw energy.
Each subsequent year was spent on revisions. I fine-tuned the novel in three drafts in three years. Yes, it takes me an entire year to run through a draft of this beast. It’s 215,431 words! Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring has 177,227 words for a reference point. That was my goal from the start. I wanted the first book of my series to rival that book in length. Editing, revising and proofreading took far longer than I anticipated, all while putting in the same time I spent on writing. Simultaneously, I was on my publishing journey, which is a juicy story in itself, that I’ll save closer to launch day.
But to close this out. It took me ten wonderful years to get here. Ten years of dedication without knowing where to find the finish line. One of the last notes my mother ever gave me before she passed away was a note written in a journal that says, “Dan, never stop writing.” Advice that I’ll always follow. Anyway! In the next post I’ll be going over “How’d it start?” Always if you have any questions, I love to hear them! Each day we’re getting closer to launch. So excited!