Expectation/reality on finishing a first draft.

It is no secret, on twitter at least, that I just finished the first draft of a novel. I like to see it as THE novel. The big break, the novel of all novels. If I did not see it that way then I'd have cheated myself. I'd have spent six months wasting my time.


Here is a list of my intentions when telling people about my first draft victory, and their reactions.

My mum - I had been home from uni for a few months and all I got from her was 'you don't do anything, you just sit around, what are you doing?' Because she could not see my sitting on the sofa writing all day as something productive. So I sent her a picture of my completed first draft to just rub her face in the fact that actually, I am a goddess. Her reaction: 'Oo bring it home with you! I want to read it!' I immediately lost. Because I was forced to respond with: 'I can't, it's a first draft, it's terrible.' In future I'll be waiting until I have a slice of brilliance that will blow her away before I start bragging.

Twitter - I've been about for a while now, trying to build some kind of follow base. I tweeted about the build up to completion and then the completion itself. What I wanted was one of those miracle moments, where an editor stumbles upon what they think is a stroke of genius all contained in a single tweet. What I got did not disappoint me, but it was no editor. The twitter writing community is incredible. I tip my hat to you.

My friends - I am not going to lie here, I wanted some kind of recognition. 'Look, here is this thing that has prevented me from doing all I wanted to do with you for the past six months.' Here is the sad truth of life, your friends do not care about your writing. Especially when they are twenty years old. They are making it in their own lives, you are just this random person they know who is creating, quite frankly, nothing that is going to contribute to them or make you any money. That may make it sound like I have the worst friends in the world, but I can assure you they are not. They just aren't writers.

Writer friends - Now this is an entirely different story. I know how much these people are struggling with their own writerly goings on. I had no intention of bragging, I just wanted to give a heads up, a 'hey guys just so you know I might have something for you to read soon.' As with twitter, writers understand writers. And I felt much more comfortable sending one of them a terrible first draft than I would have if I had sent one to my mum.

I think that about covers the people in my world. I just wanted to share my expectations and realities so if there was anyone else out there struggling with a first draft they would know that actually, completion is worth it. Not only do I feel like a wordly genius but I've learned some things.