It is finished! Yes, my novel!

I felt it in my bones that today would be, had to be, The Day, and so it was. I have been sitting at my keyboard for the last six hours in a forced march to cross the finish line, and I am done.

I know that writing the book is only a part of the battle to getting published and that there are many more hills for me to climb on the next leg of this journey: I know I need to work up a “job description” to find the right editor; I know I need to work on researching potential publishers and agents; I know I need to get my synopsis polished; I know I need to start working on my query letters.

But today, in celebration of having reached the end of stage one, I will do none of those things. Today, and for the rest of the day, I will devote what little energy I have left in reserve to the details of my daily life which I have been largely ignoring for the past two weeks and which blessedly will not require one iota of creativity: enough dirty laundry to clothe a small nation; a refrigerator full of leftovers needing haircuts; a week’s worth of unreturned phone calls; and a workout sorely needed.

Tomorrow I will begin again.