# I wrote a book (holy crap!)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wrote-a-book-holy-crap/174380>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 10, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wrote-a-book-holy-crap/174380 "2003-05-10T20:34:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wrote-a-book-holy-crap/174380/1 "2003-05-10T20:34:48Z")

</div>

I just finished the rough draft of a novel that I’ve been working on since August, although I have sketches of it going back over ten years. It’s pretty long (around 160,000 words), and is likely to get bigger when I rewrite it this summer. It may end up fissioned into two or three books, if I can find a way to end them without being too abrupt.

I’m in a daze now. I’ve never written a novel before. Does anyone want to share their novel writing anecdotes with me? I don’t know very many people who have also gotten the whole way through a draft. There’s one guy in my writers group who has a finished novel, and I sang with Lemony Snicket in college (I haven’t heard from him since about 1995), and that’s pretty much it.

Any advice? Any publishing horror stories? I have no specific questions, so this seemed like the right forum on which to post.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wrote-a-book-holy-crap/174380/2 "2003-05-10T23:35:36Z")

</div>

I finished a draft in '99. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to dig into the madness that is editing and rewrites.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kezermezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@Kezermezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kezermezer)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wrote-a-book-holy-crap/174380/3 "2003-05-10T23:38:15Z")

</div>

Wow **aubries** , hurray!!!

I myself am a writter, aspiring to be published, and working on my first novel right now, so the amazement, pride, and happiness I know I’ll feel when that first draft is finally finished is always in the front of my mind.

Congrats on reaching such a big writer’s milestone!! 🙂