So as I’ve mentioned, I got the first draft of Frantic Sin done during NaNoWriMo 2012. 52,000 words, and a (rough) beginning, middle, and end. And as I’ve also mentioned, I’m working on revision, and that’s proving much harder.

Initially, I thought I’d get 20,000 words done per month from January 2013 to April 2013 – 80,000 total – and have it ready to go by June. I have absolutely no idea what made me think I would finish an entire novel in four months. Franklin W. Dixon only managed that kind of output because “he” was a group of ghostwriters!

To make a long story short, my biggest problem? Me. To be fair, I’ve never done this before – I’m discovering the path anew. Yes, plenty of others have written plenty of books, and for everyone who wrote a book, there’s a “first book” story, but I’ve since learned to not try and emulate others’ lives. I need to do this on my own.

So I’ve got new, more relaxed goals. I’ll shoot to get this done this year, and I actually feel I can do this. It might be “moving the goal-posts,” but what failure is there in that when my goal-posts were orbital to begin with? I may still not manage it, but at least I’ve got my aspirations back on terra firma.

(To be quite honest, I think a large part of my problem was my over-ambitious, impossible goals – daunting, really. Too intimidating to stare down.)

So, while I’d hoped to be a “full-fledged author” by the time I turned 30, I guess I can settle. What’s worse – being “late,” or never doing it at all?