after writing a little every day for 121 days i've completed the first draft of a novel
what now since i wrote the novel longhand the next phase is transcribing it's not a particularly
creative step but one i enjoy transcribing would be my first experience reading my story through
from beginning to end well it's advised to give your first draft some time to rest and create some
distance before you edit i don't feel the cooldown period needs to be that long
since i wrote the first word in the novel over 121 days ago i don't even remember what happened
at the beginning at least not the words i chose to tell the story transcribing is time traveling it's
bringing your past to the future it's like going back in time and stepping on some butterflies
what i do in this transcription doesn't need to be a replica of the past i'm free to modify
words add details change character names and relocate whole scenes transcribing is also like
moving to a new house i'm packing and deciding whether a long scene is worth keeping or not
i could cut it and save a lot of time bringing it over typing it out dusting it off and polishing it
if i transcribe it i'd read it over and over again during each revision while transcribing
is a good time to cut anything you aren't at least 60 confident in cutting it at this phase will save
you both time now transcribing and later while editing if there is a section that doesn't add
to the story don't type it out i love transcribing because as a hoarder i feel safe i'm not actually
getting rid of anything by writing longhand a physical copy of the text will always exist
that is comforting to me when i write the first draft on the computer and later
i was to cut something i feel like i'm losing it permanently even though i saved multiple files for
each draft transcribing the first draft reassures me that i'm not deleting anything good by accident
every decision was made intentionally to not transcribe a word a sentence or paragraph feels
better than cutting that same on the computer i'm saving myself a lot of emotional energy later on
transcribing is so different from writing while i'm transcribing i'm more relaxed unlike writing
where i need to imagine something out of nothing or form a clear sentence using my pen and paper
transcribing is like singing along to a song there is a rhythm to follow and i'm not traveling alone
there is also a clear destination in sight i know how many words paragraph and pages are ahead by
being able to see the end coming i know when i can stop and when i can push on when i write i
don't write a lot every day anywhere between 300 to 1000 words i would always start each day by
dating the page and when transcribing i use these little markers as checkpoints i recall how hard
it was to sit down and write each and every day and i can empathize with myself from the past
when i transcribe a page written on a certain day i feel a connection with who i was for example on
february 28th i wrote this when i transcribed that today june 24th i feel like i'm looking
over the shoulder of myself from february it's kind of freaky but that's how it feels sometimes
i don't know what my favorite part of the writing process is but transcribing is in my top three
if you can get over the fact that you're transcribing imperfect work and that you're still
early in the process i think you'll enjoy it too this is of course coming from the guy who typed
out all of the great gatsby it took me 121 days to write the first draft of the story my goal is
to transcribe it faster than that but we'll see no pressure what motivates me is that i have so many
more projects i want to work on the reward is that i can move on to the next phase of another one
i now have both book 1 and 2 written in some form and that is exciting i can't wait to finish
book 1. i can't wait to start editing book two and i can't wait to start drafting book three
most importantly i can't wait until it's all done until then i'll just enjoy this phase for a bit
transcribing stay tuned for more updates on my writing projects if you want to follow along
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