I just finished the first draft of a 30K-word novella. It’s taken about eight months to finish this draft, even though this was a story near and dear to my heart. I kept getting stuck, mostly on how to get from where I was to the next section that had already written. I had put it aside and worked on other things, going back when the itch got too much for me.
Now it gets put on the back burner to simmer for a while. After the flavors have mixed and melded and the scents have wafted around a bit more, it will be time for the taste test and final seasoning.
Then it gets dished out to the public. This is a fan fiction piece, so there won’t be any shopping around for paid publication.