It Just Begins (New Fiction Goal)

A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.

- Emily Dickinson

I estimated ten years to finish my novel. That was 2004. Now, eight-tenths of the way there, I've written…

one chapter.

If I continue at one chapter per eight years for a novel with, say, a dozen chapters, to finish it I'll have to live significantly longer than the average American female. That, or step up the pace.

My new goal, then: write the first (and I mean first) draft of this middle-grade novel by September 2013.

A friend told me about the book, This Year You Write Your Novel. In the novella, The Novelist, Laura tackles Megan Willow's challenge to write a book "by September." These titles alone motivate me, though I haven't read them yet. (Indeed, the latter won't be available for another month! Can't wait!)

It Just Begins will be a place for fiction projects (whether self-assigned or otherwise), poetry, and thoughts on writing. Though no part of my novel-in-progress will appear on this writing blog, it will serve as a kind of accountability to myself and others. 

A novel in a year? We'll have to wait and see. For now, let me…just begin.

***

(I'll continue to post poetry and excerpts from my Bible-reading journal at my other blog, Know-Love-Obey God.)