So....I've finished. The first draft anyway. Word count ended up being 82902, about 7000 words short of the 90000 I was aiming for, but acceptably close. I don't know why I ever thought I'd overshoot; that was not a pattern that happened when I wrote essays. I was always under, and always had to re-read later to find where I'd missed information. There is at least one chapter that I know needs adding.
Having said that, you could read my novel now and it would make sense. There'd probably be a few plot holes and some things wouldn't make sense or the grammar would be off...but there is a novel, that I have written, that is complete. I'm pretty damn pleased.
What's slowing the pride down a little, I suppose, is the knowledge that I have a lot of work left to do. I managed to get it done a week after my birthday (going away for a week where you can't take your laptop means a close deadline is an impossible one!) so I wrote a book largely before 30 (apart from about 2000 words!) According to the plan now, it goes away until after Christmas...possibly until February, and I work on other projects. After that, the editing process begins. I'll try to update this more often, and I'm going to start entering short story competitions. I have a few ideas bouncing around but I've never been quick at developing story ideas. Unlike some people who collect ideas like magpies and can never focus on one, it takes me a long time to think of story ideas. It's a blessing and a curse, because although I was able to pour all of my focus into my novel without wanting to start another all the time, I have limited short story ideas. Especially because the short stories I like are clever, and clever ideas take some time.
