This post is part of an ongoing project. It is the diary of a book—a log of the process of writing a debut novel as I write it. You can read more about it here.

On September 1, 2025, I started work on the proper first draft—Draft #1—of the novel codenamed Project Morpheus. In Entry #1 (September 1, 2025), I defined my goal for this first draft:

Finish Draft #1 in 75 days, including today. Have Draft #1 complete by November 14, 2025. In terms of word count, draft should have 70,000 words, split into ten chapters, each chapter would have roughly 7,000 words.
This is just for some intial structure. It is much less scary to focus on one chapter and 7,000 words than it is to focus on 1 book and 70,000 words.
Structure will be fixed and improved in next iterations/drafts, but some intial scaffolding is necessary. So then, with each chapter, goal is to simply finish that chapter. Not to worry about the book.

Main goal for this draft—Draft #1—is to get the full story down on the page. From beginning to end.

On Day 1, I compiled all my notes and previous drafts from various places into a single place. On Day 2 and Day 3, I read through the previous partial drafts (one I had written in 2023 and one I had written in 2024), which was a harrowing experience. Before I go into that, it was interesting to see how much the story and the ideas had changed over time. What I am writing now has almost nothing in common with the original story idea, except the theme of the novel.

Now, about that harrowing experience: When I read through the 2023 draft, it was quite depressing to see how bad it was—the writing, the dialogue, all of it. I guess, if I’m being generous, I could say there were some decent parts, but overall it was pretty bad. “Good to get bad writing out of my system though,” I wrote in Entry #2.

Fortunately, when I read the 2024 draft the next day, the writing and the story were much better (it was a low bar, but still), which made me hopeful—if the direction is right, then ultimately, with each draft, I could make the writing and the story better.

From Entry #2 (September 2, 2025):
From ’s newsletter, , talking about a quote by John Cage: True meaning of discipline is to give yourself over to a project rather than expecting to get something from it.

On September 4, 2025, I finally started writing the new Draft #1, and the words just flowed. From Entry #4: “The voice, the tone, feels very different compared to previous drafts. Not sure if it is any good. But at least the words are there.”

With each day, it got harder to write, but I made sure to sit down and write at least something each day, just so I don’t break the chain for these 75 days. On Day 6, I wrote just one sentence before bed. The hardest part is to sit down and start, especially the beginning of a chapter or a scene.

On Day 7 (Entry #7), I came across this snippet of David Foster Wallace’s interview with Charlie Rose, where he talked about David Lynch, Blue Velvet, and creating from your true, authentic, and uninhibited self:

Also from Entry #7: “Write now, edit later.”

The act of maintaining this journal, writing in it—pen and paper—before writing the book each day, makes it a much better process and helps reduce, at least manage, my anxieties, insecurities, and fears. A big part of writing is spending a lot of time in solitude, alone with my thoughts, which means to write more and to write better, I really need to reduce the amount of news and online content I consume.

I am also finding this ongoing series of essays on writing a novel by really insightful:

• How to Start a Novel

• How to Work On A Novel

• How to Keep Writing a Novel

From Entry #5 (September 5, 2025):
Came across a quote today: “How odd, I can have all this inside me and to you it’s just words.”—David Foster Wallace, The Pale King

Until next time,

YJ

This post is part of an ongoing project. It is the diary of a book—a log of the process of writing a debut novel as I write it. You can read more about it here.

Here is the diary of a book and it will be interesting to see how it works out.1

In the summer of 2021, a few weeks out of graduate school2, I had an idea for a novel—my debut novel. Since then, I have been thinking about it, learning how to write a novel, improving my writing craft, jotting down notes and ideas about the story as they have come to me. The notes are spread across different notebooks and different softwares and different Post-it notes. Since that summer, I have written and re-written and re-re-written over 60,000 words, most of which I have ended up ultimately discarding. In the last 16 months, those words have sat untouched in my Scrivener draft. I can make many excuses, but the truth, the undeniable truth, is that I have been afraid of those words. The fear of my words not being good enough has paralyzed the novel, my hands, my thoughts. But the dream persists.

Recently, I came across a quote from James Clear: “It doesn't make sense to continue wanting something if you're not willing to do what it takes to get it.”

And so I feel compelled to either finish the novel that I started years ago, and take it to its conclusion, or to give up the dream of writing entirely.

In the summer of 1938, John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath in a burst of creative intensity. While writing it, he kept a daily journal, published posthumously as Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath, in which he kept track of his writing progress and process. He challenged himself to finish the novel in 100 days3—writing five days a week. On October 26, 1938, in entry #100, he writes: “Finished this day—and I hope to God it’s good.”

I want to, at least attempt to, push myself in a similar way. And so I have created this project: The Journals Of A Debut Novel—in which I intend to keep track of my progress in writing my first novel and documenting the journey it takes.

I don’t want to reveal the name of the novel yet, primarily because I don’t know for sure if I have the name yet, but for convenience, I have given the project a codename: PROJECT MORPHEUS.

Since I don’t want to spam your inbox with emails, I will send out the updates weekly or fortnightly, or maybe monthly (still undecided, although feel free to tell me what you think). Each update will have a log of what work I did on the novel, the number of words written, general thoughts I might have had while writing it on the process of writing, things I learn along the way about writing and reading, etc. I don’t think I will talk much about the specifics of the characters and the story, since I would prefer not to give out spoilers, and since I don’t know what will happen with this book in the end. It might end up being a bad book. It might never see the light of day. Nonetheless, I hope these journals will still provide some value to me and to you.

“Every book seems the struggle of a whole life. And then, when it is done — pouf. Never happened. Best thing is to get the words down every day. And it is time to start now.” — John Steinbeck, Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath

Until next time,
YJ

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For more context about Steinbeck’s Working Days, I recommend reading Maria Popova’s post on The Marginalian4.