Completion of First Draft

Last week I completed my first draft of Rise of a Thought Mage.  It is 400 pages or 94,000 words.  About the size of The Hobbit.  It is hard to anticipate the final length as many new thoughts have run through my mind about the story-line's continued development.  Reading the fist chapter was painful.  In the lucid and dreamy state of mind I was in during its creation it seemed so well written.  As I have progressed along this path and continued to resurrect my long nascent writing skills it has become more and more apparent that I still have far to go.

A little internet searching garnered me some quotes to keep me going.  These are from www.howtoreviseyournovel.com and seem to resonate with the sentiments of almost every writer's discussion board and website I have come across.  Apparently the first draft is not the apex of any novel's greatness.  I will press on with my two-volume bound 'tome' to try to make it what I have envisioned it should be.

"First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about." - Bernard Malamud

"There is no great writing, only great rewriting." - Justice Brandeis

"Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it." - Michael Crichton