I just finished my first draft! c:

I got COVID this last Tuesday and so, I had to take time off work (though I go back again this upcoming Tuesday) but I thought this gave me the best opportunity to finish my story and I’m finally done with it!

:partying_face: :piñata: :mirror_ball: :face_holding_back_tears:

It sits at 94,875 words as a first draft. However, I’m sure that once I start editing, the numbers will go up because I have quite a lot of editing to do. I’ve realized that I missed an entire continent in the map I created ages ago, so I not only have to make a new map but add it in. I’ve also noticed that in my final battle sequence, I didn’t put in another thing that was supposed to happen because I practically continued the story without much thought as to this other piece of the puzzle. I also have to change a bit of the beginning as well which would both delete and add words to it. So, maybe it’ll be what I thought it was going to be which was like 100K or so? :thinking: I guess we’ll see. :sweat_smile:

But this has been seven years in the making. Well, sort of. Three years if you count fully writing it. The idea struck me seven years ago, but I started writing it three years ago… the longest time it’s ever taken me to write a book. :upside_down_face:

So, now, I’m gonna let it sit and brew for a month so I can start planning the sequel, working on another story, and plan out what needs to be done for this book. :face_holding_back_tears:

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Congrats.

My poor brain, anything that takes 7 years is likely to be a abandoned until I can force myself back into it (as is evidenced by several series). So the tenacity to see it through to the end of the first draft is an accomplishment.

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Congrats! Hope you will have fun editing it. The long fictions like that could be a total murder on all senses in that stage. Lol, don’t ask me how I know.

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7 YEARS! WOW! And you finished it!

Say it out loud. Let it sink in.

You finished it.

Congratulations! :smile:

Go treat yourself :cupcake: :ice_cream: :doughnut: :cookie:

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Thank you! :face_holding_back_tears:

Haha, I know the feeling unfortunately. :sweat_smile: It would’ve been an abandoned story if I hadn’t had it simmering in my head for that long because the idea was impossible to get rid of. I wasn’t ready to write it the first time it popped up in my head, and I tried in various formats, too. But I was too young, too new to writing still. Loved the idea, couldn’t get rid of it, so I had it on the backburner while writing other stories and trying to hone the craft of writing until finally, I thought I was ready. And I’m so surprised I stuck with it! :sweat_smile: Especially when I lost a full month’s worth of planning for the story and world and it still wasn’t finished yet. :rofl:

Thank you! :blush: And I definitely will try to haha. I actually like to edit, though. As much as the writing part. Writing itself is awesome, but it becomes a drag when it’s not written yet and you have no idea where to go even when you have a plan in front of you. Coming up with the characters, dialogues, scenes, backgrounds, etc. is so exhausting that at the end of a draft, I appreciate editing a lot more because I can at least go into a finished product and clean it up. It’s hard to clean something up when there’s nothing to clean up. :sweat_smile:

They definitely can be, though. :sweat_smile: I can’t wait until I nosedive into this thing. I’ve already written down what I need to revise as a sort of outline to get my thoughts in order lol.

Thank you! :face_holding_back_tears:

An agonizing seven years. :rofl: :sweat_smile: But worth it for this moment. Honestly, though, I’m a little sad that I didn’t feel much after writing those final words, though. When they hit the page, I was like, “That’s it? Oh. Okay.” xD So weird. Like, I felt accomplished and happy that it finally got done, but then there was nothing else after that which is really bittersweet knowing. I wished I got as excited as others have when finishing a project, but I feel like I never have with either of my four other projects I finished. It was more of a “bleh” moment. And I thought something would happen here considering how long I’ve spent working on it and how long it’s been in my head fore, but whatever. :sweat_smile:

And I shall treat myself! Which, technically I’m doing tonight lol. A little celebration with a clean house, a book, a shower, and a face mask. c:

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Very understandable. Setbacks derail me.

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