Chapter 1

On January 6th 2007, I joined in a community called novel_in_90. Write 750 words a day for 90 days, for a total of 67,500, and poof, you'll have a book. I didn't have time in January. I didn't have time in April - though I tried - when it cycled to round 2. On June 1st, round three started, and I finally had the time to start with it. I wrote steadily, every day just about, but my book wasn't finished in 90 days, though. I wrote 750 or more words a day for 152 days, accepting the days that I missed - about three weeks, total, most write around my move.

Today, I wrote the words "the end" on the last page of my first novel. I'm so happy I'm holding back tears. When I was young, I wanted to be a writer, but as I got older I moved on. I never thought I'd actually finish a novel.

My novel, my first novel, has no title yet, but the file is still called Chapter 1. This was the default "name the file after the first words of the document" title assigned by Word when I started in June. It is 142,387 words long. In the format that I typed it (single spaced, Calibri size 11 type) it is 185 pages. Formatted normally (double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman) it is 411 pages. I have written more words for my novel in the past week than I wrote in the entire month of September. I knew I was almost done. I was so close I could taste it. It is 50,000 words long than my early estimates thought it would be.

Thank you so very much to the people who supported me in doing this, and in particular to all the folks over at novel_in_90 (this will be crossposted there), to my mom, for not telling me to stop even when she had work she needed me to do instead, my dad, who was full of supportive advice, and most especially to swan_tower, for treating me like an equal even though she's a better writer than I think I'll ever be.
( The Plot, in Brief )

( So What Now? )

But for now, I just can't believe I actually wrote a novel. Hahahaha, I'm done!! I'm done!!