I Finished my FIRST Manuscript

I can't believe I haven't posted anything about finishing my manuscript yet. I'm in a bit of a walking coma to say the least. My eyes are completely fried after spending most of the day revising and editing my completed manuscript. There's that word again...completed.

Last Monday, I had finished the goal I set out to accomplish. I ended my manuscript at 297 pages, which seems absolutely nuts in my eyes. I can't believe I had that much to write about, but I did and the book is still growing. After today, I'm at 303 pages and have revised up to chapter eight. The more I revise, the more excited I get about my book. How on earth did I come up with these ideas?

Revising and editing takes a long time - much longer than I ever anticipated. I thought I'd go back and read the first draft of my manuscript and be completely happy. Wrong. There are so many pieces of information I missed. My patience is wearing thin. I'm one of those people who likes for things to happen right away. I want my manuscript off to agents yesterday, but I know it's not ready. I need to LOVE it. I do, but I'm a perfectionist and I know I can make the story better.

There are not enough hours in the day.

I had to pull myself away from my computer this afternoon to go on a hike with Karl. The weather was spectacular and here I was stuck behind my laptop, like I am already five days out of the week at work. I knew I had to get away because my neck was screaming in pain. I don't like sitting still in the first place - I have way too much energy for that and was losing my mind over here.

I will say writing "The End" was one of the coolest feelings, but not ccompletely what I thought it would feel like and I think it's because I know I'm just not there yet. I think once I finish editing, I might shed a tear or two. Actually, I will be going out and celebrating. Right now, I still have holes in my manuscript. I'm scared to fall asleep for fear I will lose my memory or something. What if I forget where I left off?

I tend to welcome interruptions throughout the day.  I'm a doer and a helper and this shows in my current manuscript. One chapter someone had blue eyes and three chapters later they have green. Sigh! My goal now is to make the entire story flow.

This is where having a full-time job becomes a struggle. I have to leave all my thoughts and ideas about my book behind because otherwise they will consume me on a daily basis. I even dream about my book. The weekends are meant for charging ahead and getting as far as I can before the next one comes. During the week, I have too many events going on that I can maybe give an hour or two towards my book. This makes piecing the story together difficult. I'm inspired more on certain days than others and it shows in my writing.

I'm still celebrating though because this is a huge feat - maybe a small step in the writing world but a gigantic one for me. I can't believe I actually did this, and it's that feeling that's pushing me to keep going.

For now...it's time to dream about that book of mine! Good night!