81,155 words = 4 years 10 months
Oh happy day. Today I reached the end (bar suggested corrections from my supervisor) of the draft 6 edits of my manuscript, 'The snake in the rock'. Let's take a look at the metrics of one 'garden variety' first novel in-the-making.
- It's a princely 81,155 words. Years of rounding chapter counts up and down meant that the extra 1155 seemed like a magic bonus when I did real sums today. Hurrah! I'm told that's a good number for a first novel (not massively long or short).
- It's taken me 4 years and 10 months to reach this point — and the work is not all done. If the book gets accepted by a publisher and given to a literary editor then we can assume that I'll be doing loads more work on it.
- On that thought, I started writing seriously because I woke up on a slightly significant birthday and realised that since I'd passed the entry age I was NEVER going to win the Vogel award now. Keen readers will know which birthday that was. The mathletic among us will also deduce that I have another significant birthday coming up. Enough said.
- I have called the manuscript version draft 6. HAH. The real number is more like 600. I would say that I've rewritten the book in its entirety 3 times. No joke.
- I don't dare guess how many hours I've put into this project. Some people reckon it takes 10,000 hours to master something. I guess I'm half way. When I finish my second novel, I'll be cooking with gas.
Lastly, here's a calculation I'm looking forward to changing. How many other pieces have I written this last 12 months? None. It'll feel damn good to sink my teeth into something new.