I Finished the Rough Draft!!

So, I was just over on Twitter, checking to see when I started writing my current work-in-progress. Here's what I found:

I'm happy to announce that I finished the rough draft tonight, just five and a half weeks after I wrote that first tweet about the book on March 17!

I have never, NEVER in my entire life written a book in such a short amount of time. How in the world did I do it?  Here's what's changed compared to past manuscripts:

1. Both my kids are now in school full time. This factor alone has made a huge difference in my workday. My son skipped ahead from kindergarten to first grade in January, so suddenly I found myself with longer blocks of writing time than I've ever experienced. (He's loving first grade, by the way—and he's tall for his age, so there's no need to envision a scared little six-year-old.)

2. This is the shortest book I've ever written. It currently stands at just over 47,000 words, which is somewhat on the small side, even for young adult fiction.  I'm guessing it will bulk up a little when I go through and edit, but it's a story that doesn't need to be overly long.  As I said in a recent tweet, my manuscript that's currently out with publishers feels like my big-budget movie, while this work-in-progress in my little indie drama.  It could easily be scored to an acoustic guitar.

3. The story is a contemporary tale, set in areas right around where I currently live.  Typically, I write historical fiction, which obviously requires a great deal of research.  Or else I set my books in places where I formerly lived, which requires double-checking info to make sure I've gotten things like street names and tree varieties straight.  This time around I made it pretty easy on myself.  If I needed to feel some inspiration for my setting, all I had to do was walk my dog.

Now I need to revise, polish, and edit before sending the book out to my wonderful critique partners.  But the skeleton has been created.  I can't wait to share more about it.

Photos of the Inspiration for My Novel-in-Progress

I'm now over 12,000 words into my new novel—a contemporary young adult bedtime tale—and I can't wait to eventually share more details. For now, here are some photographs my daughter and I took in our local woods, the inspiration for the story.