Doin' a happy dance

TA-da-da-DA! I have completed a new first draft! It's the mainstream novel for adults that I started last summer, and between working on the graphic novel and baby needs, I've somehow been able to seize enough time to complete it! It's not huge, but a hearty 55,000 words nonetheless.

These past few weeks, I've been like a bloodhound on the scent, crazed with how close I am and eager to finish it off. I've been obsessed with taking my daily word count, imagining again and again the final scenes that separated me from the finish of the book, nearly insane to get it done. And now it is!

I'm addicted to the rush I get on completing a first draft. No part of the writing process is more difficult or more rewarding to me. Now I have something. It's not just an idea, not just a hope of a book someday. It is a real live draft! I'll run through it again, and then I get to start sharing it with people. First, my husband, because he's always first. And then, because this one is a non-fantasy mainstream book, I'll have my writer friend Shauna take a look. She writes in this genre as well, so she's an ideal reader (unlike Dean, who will not get this one, bless his heart--he might say, "It's good, but it needs more giant robots"). Then I'll start rewriting on their notes and on my own insights after I get some distance from it. I need to be working on Jack and the new Bayern book this year, so rewrites will be interspersed and slow (particularly as my writing time is more limited than ever). But I have something tangible! It so rocks.