I’m a few days late, but on December 15th, 2013 I completed my first draft of Within the Ice.  It was a very exciting 45 days of insane writing.  The final word count on the book was 76,440 words.  I’ve written unsuccessfully for many years, so I know a lot about the first process of writing and getting the words down.  I have now entered somewhat unfamiliar territory as my book gets read by some test readers and edited.  As I write these words I’m sure there are multiple red marks appearing on the pages where in my frenzy I failed to spell properly.

Either way, it has been a successful endevour so far.  I have never completed a first draft before, so I am happy just to be able to accomplish that goal.  The next steps are to edit and polish it up with the goal of publishing it on Lulu.com by the end of February.

Things of Note:

• Writing evaluation conducted by lulu.com was completed on the 13th.  For better or worse my writing style was compared to War and Peace, Cujo, and The Lost World.
• Long awaited Nanowrimo Winner’s shirt finally arrived today.
• And a nice long Christmas break which will allow me time to at least get to a revised draft of a few chapters.