Finally Finished!

According to my laptop, it is 10:14 p.m. on August 2, 2010 and I am officially finished with my novel! I knew I was going to be writing this post tonight because I only had one more chapter to complete and so I was really thinking about what it means to finish a novel.

I've been working on my WIP Styx and Stones for a little over a year. This is my third revision (which I started 3 months ago) where a lot of big editing stuff happened. I dropped a few unneeded characters, slashed through a few sub-plots, changed the way the plot wove together and really worked to refine both MCs voices. Now is my month to rest and grow apart from the little beauty I've just slaved over for a year. I've got the Beta Readers lined up and I can't wait to get their feedback!

But what caught my attention through all of this is that I've spent a year of my life on this novel. I've written three novels now and I can pretty much count my life through these novels. Ages15 through 20 were devoted to the very long, very unpolished first novel I wrote. 21-22 is hopelessly devoted to the second and now 22 to 23 is this one.

Can you look back on your life and say the same?

I know from web surfing and stalking many agent's blogs that it's good to be able to write about a book a year so I feel right on pace. This month I'll probably be posting some on the query letter crafting process. I can't wait!

This is such a wonderful night!