I did it!

I finished the new manuscript!

At 5:11, Nov. 24, to be exact.

I was thrilled, of course. A little shocked. A little giddy. A little doubtful. And a little sad, really, to have said “The End” to these characters, whom I’ve grown with and loved for a good three years now. (Yeah, three years. I got sidetracked a couple of times….)

Anyway, at 5:11, I threw my hands into the air and said “I’m DONE!” and Superman came rushing over from the living room with his cell phone to commemorate the moment. (Because I’m sure he could hardly believe it either.)

Then I went to pick Rene up from a church activity I’d dropped her off at, at 3 p.m. (and had told her I was “almost done with my book … I think…”). So I was excited to get her just a few hours later and say, “I finished!” I think she was in shock, too.

Then I went home and … uh … opened the file again. It’s like I don’t know what to do without this book open. … 

Or maybe I just wanted to look and see “The End” again, prove it really happened.

Anyway, the next steps are to plow through once more to correct a few continuity errors I know are in there, change a couple of names of companies and such that were placeholders, clean up the wording at the end a little, do a quick edit for at least the last 12,000 words, and then get it to a few beta readers!

Oh, and I have to cut at least 16,000 words. Blah.