I am thoroughly stoked. I have finished my first draft of my first adult novel. If I am honest with myself, this is only the third writing project I have written to completion.

I started Renaissance of Self – Escape as a NaNoWriMo project (National Novel Writing Month for those not in writing circles). I got 34,157 word completed on the 50,000 word count goal before I was burnt out by the pace. I kept working on it regularly though most of December then put it away for all but the occasional edits and additions until mid May. For as passionate I was about this idea that come to me as a dream, I had a rough few months where writing a heartwarming romance/ soft thriller was not something I could channel my emotions into properly. But through chatting with ChatGPT about my work I was able to get re-hyped. I plan to put out a whole post on writing with ChatGPT and it’s many flaw and few virtues as well as an assessment of a writer’s specific AI tool called Sudowrite soon. But I’d precaution any judgement with the reality that maybe 600 hundred of my 70,000 plus words were crafter by either of these AI programs I tested out.

AI aside, I’ve been working pretty steadily for the last month and realized late last night that I was within a few sentences of the end. It was a surprise to me as this is only part 1 of the whole story I set out to tell. I thought I was nearing the end of act 1 but while doing the follow-up edits of what I’d written in the previous day or two I saw it. What was here has a solid beginning, middle, and an end. I also knew I was going to need to skip some time pretty soon and a break between books is a great way to make that feel natural. The sudden revelation means I’m super excited.

This completion has come at a good time to sync back up with the writing community. July is Camp NaNoWriMo, a month dedicated to completing any self-determined writing goal. I didn’t have a goal I felt I could lock in for that before yesterday. Now, a complete edit incorporating the thoughts of alpha readers is my goal. I estimate Renaissance of Self – Escape will finish out Camp NaNoWriMo at about 80,000 words, very middle of the road for an average adult fiction novel.

Stay tuned for more updates on that! Oh and here’s my temporary cover art! I’ll have to remember to put together a post on how I created it as well. If you guessed with the help of AI tools… then you’ve been paying attention. 🙂