A germ of an idea that started early last July has turned into 65,493 words and what I hope will be the first of a series.
The first draft is done.
It still doesn't have a title, the ending needs serious work, and I'm worried that I'll find major plot holes and continuity issues when I do my read-through.
The first draft is done.
It's a sweet, sweet feeling.
Happy Tuesday!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
All Created Equal
Because writing and cooking are better than a little red sports car
Show your solidarity
Fight the Hate
All Created Equal
About Me
- Jen
- Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- AlternativeU is an (in process) nonprofit designed to help find useful, income-generating or debt free education experiences for 18- to 24-year-olds who do not choose to follow the traditional college route.
Subscribe Now: standardSmall
Local Love Fridays
What's Cooking Wednesday
Another Blogger for Peace
Followers
Marvelous Michigan Blogs
- 365 Days of Kale
- 64 Sq. Ft. Kitchen
- A Million Grandmas
- Adventures in Food and Beyond
- Ann Arbivore
- Ann Arbor Theater Vixen
- Anno's Place
- Becca's Byline
- Bookman's Folly
- Booniverse
- Caroline's Lunchbox
- Community Farm Kitchen
- Diana Dyer, M.S., R.D.
- Dog Hill Kitchen
- Eat Close to Home
- Food Snob on a Tuesday Night
- Foodzilla
- Four Obsessions: Reading, Writing, Cooking and Crafting
- From the Kitchen of Olivia
- fruitcake or nuts
- Gastronomical Three
- Good Friends, Good Food, Good Beer
- In Linda's Library
- Kitchen Chick
- Land Conservancy: Notes from the Field
- Local in Ann Arbor
- Mae's Food Blog
- Michigan Lady Food Bloggers
- Mother's Kitchen
- My Mom Thinks I'm Swell
- Popcorn Homestead
- Relish// Life. Work. Pictures.
- Simmer Down: A Food Lover's Blog
- Sisters of a Different Order
- The Hungry Masses
- the last bite
- The Marmelade Gypsy
- The Mitten
- Vacuum
- Voltaire's Garden
- Will Blog for Food
Fave Food Blogs from All Over
- Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino
- Baking Delights: Baking breads and treats for your family
- Bren's Flanboyant Eats
- City Girl Lifestyle
- Coco Cooks
- Cookblog
- Finding La Dolce Vita
- Gild the Voodoo Lily
- Hungry Like the Wolf
- Kalofagas.ca
- Kopiaste... To Greek Hospitality
- Mexican American Border Cooking
- More Than Burnt Toast
- My Italian Grandmother
- No Fear Entertaining
- Pham Fatale
- Proud Italian Cook
- Rosa's Yummy Yums
- Slim Shoppin'
- Souvlaki for the Soul
- Spanish Recipes
- Sticky, Gooey Creamy, Chewy
- Su Good Sweets
- Sweets, Savories, etc.
- Tales from the Fairy Blogmother
- The Leftover Queen
- We are Never Full
- What's Cooking
Just Plain Great Reading
- 42
- Acedog's Scribbles & Bits
- As I Was Saying
- Bleeding Espresso
- Blog Ness Monster
- Bloggers Annex
- Blooming Idiot
- Dirty Little Secret
- Finding My Way Home
- First Offenders
- Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting
- Fourier Analyst
- Goofball's World
- Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life
- I once was HP
- It's All About Balance
- La delirante: A Salvadoran living in Malta.
- Lilac Colored Glasses
- Lolalina
- Looking Into
- Los Angelista's Guide To The Pursuit Of Happiness
- MARIPOSA'S TALES
- Million Dollar Ideas!
- Momisodes
- Motherhood in NYC
- My Grimm Reality
- My Mommy's Place: Mommy's Blog
- Northwest Ladybug
- Not THAT Different
- notes from me
- Novembrance
- nyc/caribbean ragazza
- OH! BOOKS...PAPER...REAL LIFE...
- Painted Maypole
- Pray for Rain
- Prefers Her Fantasy Life
- Reading, Writing, & Stuff That Makes Me Crazy
- s w o o n d (née diana:muse)
- Soccer Mom in Denial
- Students, Stanford, and Geetha - oh my!
- The Ambassador Ripostes
- The Busy Dad Blog
- The Graveyard Shift
- The Intrepid Soprano
- The Pittsburgh Deli
- The Road Lester Traveled
- This blog is your blog
- Twas Brillig
- VirtualSprite
- WaystationOne
- Widney Woman
- Writing Wrongs
Foodie Blog Roll
;
Royal Foodie Joust
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(191)
-
▼
February
(24)
- Way too much fun!
- What's Cooking Wednesday and Queen for a Day
- It's Done!
- Music Monday - "Disko Partizani" - Shantel
- Shantel DISKO PARTIZANI
- Singular Saturday: The Two Inevitables: Death and
- What's Cooking Wednesday: Philippine Savoury Pork ...
- Book Talk
- Music Monday - "She's a Brick House" - The Commodores
- The Commodores-Brick House
- Meme-ish type things, awards, etc.
- Flashback Friday: High School Memesical!
- What's Cooking Wednesday: Jen's Chocolate Custard
- Music Monday - "Praise You" - Fat Boy Slim
- Praise You - Fatboy Slim
- Singular Saturday: Having few chores and many book...
- Flashback Friday: Trrrrreeaaattttttssssss!
- What's Cooking Wednesday: Cornmeal Pancakes with A...
- Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video
- Music Monday - Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video
- World Nutella Day: Nutella-Cheesecake Cupcakes
- A Couple of Reminders
- Singular Saturday: I Don't Mean To Pander, Beg or...
- Flashback Friday: Snow Day
-
▼
February
(24)
Blessed
Labels
- 9th grade (1)
- A Seaton Dream (1)
- A Wrinkle in Time (1)
- agent contracts (1)
- aging (1)
- Alice Waters (1)
- American Idol (1)
- Ann Arbor (4)
- Ann Arbor Art Fairs (2)
- Ann Arbor Citizens' Police and Court Academy (1)
- AnnArbor.com (2)
- Anno's place (2)
- anorexia (1)
- Anthony Bourdain (1)
- aol (1)
- Apple Cabbage Slaw (1)
- apple cherry ginger cake with caramel frosting (1)
- Apple Puff Pancake (1)
- Apple Rhubarb Cake (1)
- Art Fairs (1)
- Artists (1)
- Asparagus (1)
- authors (3)
- Avenue Q (1)
- Avli (1)
- Bad Motels (1)
- Bangkok Haunts (1)
- bank accounts (1)
- Bar Mitzvahs (1)
- Barack Obama (3)
- Barbara Samuel (1)
- being a clutz (1)
- Bill Monroe (1)
- birthdays (1)
- Bittman's Speedy No-Knead Bread (1)
- Bleeding Espresso (1)
- Blog Blast for Education (1)
- blog buttons (1)
- Blog Exchange (1)
- blog fun (1)
- blog love (1)
- Blogger Aid (6)
- bloggers (1)
- blogging (1)
- Blooming Idiot (1)
- Blueberrry muffins (1)
- Bones (1)
- Book Talk (3)
- books (5)
- Born to be Wild (1)
- boyfriends (1)
- boys (1)
- breast cancer (1)
- Buddhism (1)
- Bumper stickers (1)
- Bush (1)
- Cafe Balzac (1)
- Camp Hillcroft (1)
- cancer (2)
- Charity (1)
- Chicken Rose (1)
- Children are the Future Cookbook (2)
- chimichurri beef (1)
- Chive Eggs (1)
- Chocolate Covered Strawberries (1)
- chowder (1)
- Christmas (1)
- Christmas music (1)
- Coffee House Creamery (1)
- Comfortably Yum (2)
- competency (1)
- cooking (2)
- corn (1)
- corn meal pancaked with apples (1)
- corn pudding (1)
- Corn/Tomato/Lime Salad (1)
- Cucumbers in Sour Cream (1)
- Dad (1)
- Day to Read (3)
- Dead of the Day (3)
- death (1)
- Deep Dark Chocolate Ice Cream (1)
- deer (1)
- Diana Ross and the Supremes (1)
- Disko Partizani (1)
- Dominguez Family (1)
- DTE (2)
- duck eggs (1)
- Dufflet Pastries (1)
- Eat to the Beat (1)
- ecology (1)
- education (1)
- Education links (1)
- election analysis (1)
- Elections (1)
- Environment (1)
- exchange programs (1)
- exchange students (1)
- Fall Classes (1)
- farmer's market (1)
- Farmers Market Saturday (1)
- Farmers Market Thursday (3)
- farmers markets (1)
- Fat Boy Slim (1)
- Festival of Light (1)
- Fieldston (1)
- Fish Tacos (1)
- Flashback Friday (3)
- Food (2)
- Food Gatherers (1)
- Foul Play (1)
- Fourier Analyst (1)
- Fragile Things (1)
- Fresh Tomatoes and Basil (1)
- gardening (1)
- Gateway Chiropractic (1)
- genocide (1)
- Georgia Grits Pancakes (1)
- GLAAD (1)
- gmail (1)
- Goofball's World (1)
- greens (1)
- guinea pigs (1)
- Gunfighter (1)
- haiku (1)
- haiku buckaroo contest (1)
- Haikuku-veriano (1)
- Hanukkah music (1)
- Harry Potter (1)
- Harry Potter (2)
- Harvest Cook-Off (1)
- High School (1)
- hives (1)
- home school (2)
- Honor Students (1)
- I'm Gonna Be (1)
- Impressionism (1)
- Independent bookstores in Ann Arbor (1)
- interview questions (1)
- Iowa Caucus (2)
- Italian American Folklore (1)
- J K Rowling (1)
- Jane and Michael Stern (1)
- Janowrimo (1)
- Japanese New Year (1)
- Jasper Fforde (1)
- Jen's Chocolate Custard (1)
- Jen's Rockin' Summer Vegetable Soup (1)
- Jenn in Holland (2)
- John Burdett (1)
- Johnny Depp (1)
- July 4th (1)
- Jupiter Rising (1)
- kale (1)
- Karen E Olson (5)
- Kathy Reichs (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Kenya (1)
- KGB (3)
- King's Noodle House (1)
- Kiri Te Kanawa (1)
- kohlrabi (1)
- La Boheme (1)
- La Bruschetta (1)
- Lady Lighthouse (1)
- Lady Lightkeeper (1)
- Lazy Day Spinach Lasagna (1)
- Lisa Lutz (1)
- Little India (1)
- local growers (1)
- Local Love Fridays (10)
- Long and Short Reviews (3)
- Los Angelista's Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness (1)
- Love Stinks (1)
- low fat recipes (2)
- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (1)
- Luisa Perkins (1)
- Macy's Day Parade (4)
- Madeleine L'Engle (1)
- Maira Kalman (1)
- mangoes (1)
- Marianne Arkins (3)
- Media (1)
- memes (2)
- Menu for Hope (1)
- Michigan (2)
- Misadventures in the Kitchen (1)
- Misty Cove Chronicles (1)
- Moms (1)
- Morons (1)
- Motte and Bailey Booksellers (1)
- Motte and Bailey Bookshop (1)
- Murphy's Law (1)
- mushrooms (1)
- Music Monday (27)
- musicians (1)
- My Mommy's Place (1)
- nablopomo (2)
- neighbors (1)
- New Lincoln School (1)
- New York City (4)
- nice (1)
- Nightswimming (1)
- Nikki Leigh (2)
- No Place Like Home (1)
- no power (1)
- Northwest Ladybug (3)
- Nutella-Cheesecake Cupcakes (1)
- NYC/Caribbean Ragazza (1)
- O Foods Contest (1)
- One Love for Liv (2)
- onions (1)
- Open-Faced Steak Sandwiches (1)
- opera (1)
- Our Family Farm (1)
- ovarian cancer awareness month (2)
- Pancakes (1)
- panic attacks (1)
- panne cotta (1)
- parenting (1)
- Parisian Roquefort Walnut Salad (1)
- Pasta with Chicken (1)
- Pavarotti (1)
- Peach Blueberry Cobbler (1)
- peaches (1)
- penises (1)
- People's Food Co-op (1)
- perfectionism (1)
- pesto (1)
- plantains (1)
- Plum's Market (1)
- Pommes de L'Huile (1)
- potatoes (1)
- Power Muffins (1)
- Praise You (1)
- PSA Tuesday (1)
- Psycho (1)
- public school (2)
- public schools (1)
- Radish-Apple-Onion Frittata (1)
- Raspberries in Pomegranate Reduction (1)
- Raspberry-Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake (1)
- Reading (1)
- Reading Day (1)
- Rebecca James (1)
- Recipes (3)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers (1)
- religious cults (1)
- Roaring for Words (1)
- roasted green beans with parmesan and pine nuts (1)
- Roasted Tomato Soup (1)
- roasted tomatoes (1)
- Room with a View (1)
- RoosRoast Coffee (2)
- Royal Foodie Joust (1)
- Russia (1)
- Sacred Cows (1)
- Salade Nicoise (1)
- salads (1)
- Salmon a La Liv (1)
- Sam Spide (1)
- Sara Gruen (1)
- Sarah Palin (1)
- sausage (1)
- Scaletta Green Bean Salad (1)
- Scallops wrapped in proscuitto with balsamic peaches in mango sauce (1)
- schnitzel (1)
- school choice (1)
- seasons (1)
- Second Hand Smoke (1)
- Shantel (2)
- She's a Brick House (1)
- Sheremetyevo (1)
- shopping (1)
- Shot Girl (2)
- Silvio's Organic Pizza (1)
- Simone Signoret (1)
- Singular Saturday (16)
- Slow Food Huron Valley (2)
- So Happy Together (1)
- So You Think You Can Dance (1)
- Soap Opera Sunday (2)
- Soccer Mom in Denial (2)
- Something to Say About Life in the Netherlands (3)
- South Bend (1)
- Soviet Union (2)
- Spaghetti-os for Grown-ups (1)
- spammers (1)
- Sparrow Market Feasts (1)
- Spring Fruit Cobbler with Cornmeal Crust (1)
- Starlight (1)
- Stephen Kinnard photography (1)
- Steppenwolf (1)
- Stop in the Name of Love (1)
- stories (1)
- Stratford Festival Canada (2)
- strudel (1)
- suicide (1)
- summer (3)
- Summer Pudding (1)
- summer reading (1)
- summer squash (1)
- Summer Squash Pancakes (1)
- summer squash pudding (1)
- Super Simple Grilled Chicken (1)
- Super Tuesday (1)
- Sweet Gem Confections (1)
- Taste Our Goods (1)
- Taxes (1)
- teacher exchanges (1)
- teaching (3)
- Temperance Brennan (1)
- Terroni (1)
- Thanksgiving (4)
- Thanksgiving menu (1)
- The Chanukah Song (1)
- The Christmas Curse (1)
- The Commodores (1)
- The Condos (1)
- The Courage to Write (2)
- the draft (1)
- The Dud Avocado (1)
- The Eyre Affair (1)
- The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading (2)
- The Great Gatsby (1)
- The Lost Recipes of Hoboken (1)
- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1)
- the Michigan Democratic Primary (1)
- The Missing Ink (2)
- The Original Pancake House (1)
- The Pink Prayer Book (1)
- The Proclaimers (1)
- The Roches (1)
- The Scarlet Letter (2)
- The Spellman Files (1)
- The Turtles (1)
- The Writing Game (8)
- tolerance (1)
- Toni Carrington (1)
- Top of the Park (1)
- Toronto (1)
- Toronto restaurants (1)
- Traffic (1)
- Transgender Day of Remembrance (1)
- tuna sandwiches (1)
- Turkey Tetrazzini (1)
- Tuscan Carrot-top Soup (1)
- tweens (1)
- Tyson Gay (1)
- U2 (1)
- Valley Stream (1)
- Vegetarian (1)
- Victory Speech (1)
- virtual book tours (1)
- Vote (1)
- Walk On (1)
- Water for Elephants (1)
- ways to waste a Saturday (1)
- We Three Kings (1)
- websites (1)
- weddings (1)
- Western Massachusetts (1)
- What's Cooking Ann Arbor (1)
- What's Cooking Wednesday (45)
- Whole Foods (1)
- Wholly Burble (1)
- Wijvenweek (3)
- William Shatner (1)
- World Nutella Day (2)
- World peace (1)
- Worldwide Blogger Bake-Off (1)
- writers (2)
- writing (3)
- writing novels (3)
- Yellow for Bri (1)
- Yes We Can (1)
- Yves Montand (1)
- Zingerman's (1)
- Zingerman's Roadhouse (1)
- zucchini gratin (1)
47 comments:
Jen, What amzaing news! Congratulations on your achievement. Don't sweat the plot holes...a first draft is supposed to suck. The achievement is having got all that down in order to improve upon it. I'm envious, but mostly I'm happy for you. Hoist a glass of your favorite beverage(and then get to work on that 2nd draft!).
Congratulations! I can't out for it to be out so I can add it to my collection! ;)
Greg - my favorite beverage of the moment is coffee, considering I finished around 8 a.m. this morning, lol. But I think I need some down time to do some additional research reading and let things incubate before starting the second draft.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mariposa!
That is awesome! What a gargantuan project (well, I'm speaking from a layman's perspective). With fiction you write first and propose second, right? I've explored with non fiction writing (i.e. bought a book on how to do it! haha) and I think you propose first, write later. Good luck and congrats!! I am thoroughly impressed.
Yes, Busy Dad, you write first (and rewrite and rewrite and maybe rewrite again, and THEN query). And yes, I believe it's the opposite with nonfiction, in general.
Maybe I should be smart and switch to nonfiction, lol.
Jen, congrats on finishing the first draft!!! That's so exciting.
Hey Emily! How fun to see you here. This saves me an e-mail - I was planning on letting you know!
Congrats!!! I hope you are planning to celebrate a little before you plunge into your rewrites.
NYC - I sure am! Not sure how, yet, but I need to for sure! It's still sinking in. You know, it's still in that kind of "empty feeling" phase of shock, lol.
Hooray!!!!!
Now, when do I get to read it?
hey Anno! Well, when it's a lot more cleaned up than it is now, lol. A few weeks, perhaps? (Like you have the time, dear friend) ;-)
That's fantastic! Veel gelukkig! And all great works had to go through tons of editing, but you got the major hard part out of the way already. Great job!
That's great! I can't imagine the amount of work you had to do to finish it! Now perhaps you can give us a hint. What's the plot? :)
Oh, wonderful! This is fantastic news. Remember, you can do anything now that you have a draft, but it's impossible to revise "vaporware."
Congrats and even more congrats. I can't wait to read it.
Charity
Wow! Congratulations! :)
I was watching your word count on the side bar and wondering when this announcement would come! Congratulations! That is a stellar acheivement and I am very very impressed.
Tip back a glass and celebrate, friend!
Charity - thanks! And I'm not sure I would have gotten there if you hadn't kicked my butt and suggested I read Keyes's The Courage to Write last summer.
Maria - thanks for the congrats and for stopping by!
Chani - I'll e-mail you about that. ;-)
Jenn - oh... I'm planning on it! I already ended up revising the ending some this morning, though, lol.
YAY!!! - just YAY!!!
Thanks, Jami! I couldn't agree more!
CONGRATS JEN!!!!!!! That is such awesome news!
Thanks, Jenn!
YAY!!!
Now... to meet my goal (as in: the goal we set together) I need to write (pulls out fingers and toes) 21,000 words in three days... so that would be (fingers and toes again)... um... 7,000 words a day.
Easy peasy.
Seriously, though. I'm so thrilled for you.
Thanks, Marianne! And um... hey, I would have rather had a book released this month - nudge, nudge. You'll get there. I need you to. You owe me some critiquing back and forth! ;-)
Jen, that's amazing! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you.
BTW, do you still want to do the Italian-American interview thing?
WOOOOHOOOO! What an accomplishment! WOOHOOO!
Yes, CG, I'd love to do that interview.
Thanks for the whoooohoooo, Sassy!
That is just amazing!!! Congratulations! Savor the moment :)
Congratulations! I'm so excited for you.
This is HUGE! You are to be commended, wined and dined, spa-massaged, and bouqued! (I made that word up...)Congrats!
Carol
congrats! can't wait to see it on the bestseller list. can I get an autographed copy?
Lilac, sorry I overlooked you earlier - thanks so much!
Sandy - I am savoring, believe me!
Jerseygirl - thanks so much!
Carol - Well, we're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate, so I guess that counts!
Flower Child - um... I'll see if it sells first, lol. Thanks!
Yay Jen! Congratulations! It's so exciting! You may still have work ahead, but allow yourself to enjoy this moment! You've come so far!
Thanks so much, Leslie! I just came back from major celebrating, which I'll be writing about tomorrow!
That's fantastic!!! Congratulations. I hope when it's out you'll consider doing a virtual book tour at my blog. I've had two guests so far and it's been fun.
Hey, thats the hardest part I figure. Now its just fine tuning. It will all fall in place now.Congrats.
Wow! Oh WOW!! That is just awesome. I've been watching the ticker thinking "she's getting there, she's getting there!"
And now you are THERE!! Yipee
hooray!
time to celebrate with a little disco dancing! :)
YAY!! WOOOOOOO!! Woo and Yay!!!!!!
Congratulations Jen. That's an incredible accomplishment.
Alex, thanks for the offer - if/when I get to that point, I'll definitely take you up on it!
Coco - thanks so much! I actually find the rewriting more frustrating, but I completely agree - once you have the main one it falls in place
SMID - THANKS!
Maypole - it's funny you should say that, because one of the first things I did was crank up (not disco) but Santana and let loose during my workout!
Thalia - thanks, and I know you understand what that's like!
Shan - thanks so much for the warm congrats!
yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah yeaaaaaah :)
so how does that make you feel?
Actually, Goofball, it's a great feeling! But I also know that the road has just begun...
I've been laying low, working on my own WIP, so I missed this yesterday!
CONGRATULATIONS!
While you say you still have work to do, this is the easy part, having the whole story there and now just playing with it. It's my favorite part of the process.
You deserved that great dinner last night!
Thanks so much, Karen! I'm feeling pretty good about it. But now I'm wondering what footwear Julianna needs, lol. Your post reminded me of the old Alias episodes when Jennifer Garner would jump out a three-story building in 4 inch heels and an evening gown and land on her feet and keep running...
Wow! Go you! Don't worry if the first draft is all muddled. That is totally normal. Hemingway said the first draft is, well, crap (or some word like that). The important thing is that you finished it. That is more than 90% of ppl do (me included).
Congratulations!
Jane and Dru thanks so much for the congratulations and stopping by!
Post a Comment