The Halfway Point

My first novel, Alter Road, was just over 88,000 words. Today I passed the 44,000 word mark of my follow-up novel, Red Glare. If Alter Road is any guide - and it is, of course - then I've just crossed the halfway point.

Hooray for me!

The halfway point is definitely a milestone. I will drink a glass of red wine in celebration. Make that an extra glass of wine.

It's been a while. I completed Alter Road in June 2019. That was three years ago practically to the day. I'm not sure when I started in earnest on Red Glare. But I know that I committed to Alter Road in January 2017. So that means it took about two and half years to complete the work. Throw in another six months of editing and working with my publisher, Defiance Press.

I had read where other authors - Stephen King, for one, but others too - have said that it takes them about three months to write a novel. Three months. Months.

Well good for them. Insert laughing emoji here.

We all have our own creative processes and timelines. Life and work - I have a full-time job, for example, and I write when I can - certainly sets limitations. But I'm not sure that if writing was my full-time job that three months would be enough for me. And so what?

I'm not sure what the point of this post is except to celebrate the halfway mark.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.