Greetings, Tehuti!
This was an extremely informative, educational, and inspiring article, and I can’t thank you enough for sharing it with us! You’ve done an excellent job of showing us these ten ‘easy’ steps on writing a novel, and although some of them might still seem a bit daunting, you really have made the process sound a lot easier! Maybe because you broke it down the way you have and supplied us with some great examples, and using your own experience with your first completed novel didn’t hurt either!
It’s nice to know we’re reading something from somebody who’s walked in our shoes at one time!
I’ve started 4 or 5 novels in my 54 years, and sadly didn’t finish a single one. I usually write as a pantser, but after writing myself into a corner with my first attempt at a novel (where I had to get rid of 150 pages of the 250 manuscript pages I’d already wrote), I learned a valuable lesson about having an outline!
Am I still a pantser? I’ll admit that I am for the most part, but I’ve learned to at least outline to a small degree. I’m seriously going to take your advice about steps 4, 5 and 6 into consideration!*
But what I enjoyed most about this article is that it inspired me to get back to the novel I am/was currently working on! Hell, it even got me excited to work on it again! My problem is motivation. I know where I’m going, I just have a problem taking that next step. Maybe it’s from fear that I’ll go in the wrong direction. So many little forks in the road I’m worried I write my story right off a cliff, if you know what I mean. But I know there has to be that dreaded (or as you call it, ‘dirty’) word ‘revision’ that’s going to have be done, no matter how much I won’t like it. I still kick myself in the head for giving up on that first novel. I think it had potential, but unfortunately those surviving 100 pages ended up in the trash. Maybe one day I’ll try it again with what I remember of it (which is actually quite a bit).
As for this current novel of mine, I had big plans to write at least 150 words a day. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but after a year that adds up to 54,750 words—a short novel, but a novel nonetheless.
And then there’s all these folks doing (and completing) NaNoWriMo right now! I don’t know if I’m jealous of them or envious of them or both, but I wish I could bring myself to do it. I almost tried it this year, but of course I found plenty of excuses not to. 
But here’s a real kicker: I’ve written about 150 flash fiction pieces, the majority of them 1,000 words or so (12 of which have already been published in small online magazines, paperback collections, one hard cover—The 2016 WdC Anthology—and one magazine). That’s 150,000 words right there, but it’s not a novel. I’ve thought about putting them all into a couple of collections of 75,000 words apiece and self-publishing them through Amazon, but...well, I’ll just leave it there for now. I really need to get that damn word ‘but’ out of my vocabulary!
Anyway, I just wanted you to know how grateful I am to you for sharing this with us, Tehuti! And if you don’t mind, I’m going to make a copy of this and tack it up in my office, which really just consists of a couch, a coffee table, and my laptop  . But hey, it works for me!
Kee ponw ritin gon, my friend! Thanks again, and have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
*I’m pretty sure I read in one of Stephen King’s books that he’s a total pantser. He said he starts with the first sentence and lets the story take him where it wants to go, instead of the other way around.
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