So let’s say that I’ve accepted a challenge to write something here every day for the next 30 days. Could I do it? I’m not sure. But I guess I’m going to give it a go. You can tell from my sporadic updates previously that I am not accustomed to this kind of pace, and I’m not even sure if I have thirty different topics to write about, but we’ll see.
The timing is fortuitous, however, because I have finished my first draft of the book. Or, at least, I’ve reached a point where I think there is a story coherent enough to give to my first beta reader for feedback. How do you know when you’re done? I think you’re done when you’ve told the story you set out to tell. But, as any writer can tell you, they don’t always know that going into it. The story evolves as you write. The characters take you places you never anticipated. The plot emerges from some subconscious part of your brain that you have little control over. So even if you are one of those meticulous writers who outlines everything (I am not), you may find yourself on a very different path from the one you planned.
So let me amend my previous statement: you are done when you’ve told a story, maybe not the one you set out to tell. Now, it is up to the beta readers to tell you whether that story was worth telling or not.