Posting Happy News ...

First things first: I have to say my apologies to anyone who has already read about this on another site or on my LJ. I've been kind of "spamming" my happy news in a few places, just because doing so makes it seem just a little more real.

I'm not sure how many people knew this, although a few folks did. One of the reasons -- and probably the main reason -- I have basically dropped out of the cel community was that I was writing a book. A fantasy novel, and my first attempt at completing a project this huge. It ended up being a huge undertaking that ate up pretty much all of my free time. But, that was OK because I was spending that time creating something original for myself. It also ended up being both the most wonderful, euphoric experience I've ever had and the most frustrating, discouraging experience I've ever had. Odd how writing a novel could be both of those things. There were so many days when I felt so bad about my writing ... my in-progress book ... and my chances of finishing it.

I discovered (or, I should say rediscovered) what a lonely process writing is. I had to live in my head all the time. The characters and the story wouldn't let go of me -- ever. (Even when they did nothing but sit around in my head doing .. well, nothing.) There were so many nights when I couldn't sleep because the story was there, acting itself out in my head. And I felt like, if I just got up and wrote it down, I would be able to get some rest. But, I was too darn tired to get up and do that. So, the insomnia won. And, no matter how much I loved the idea for my book and/or my characters, it was difficult (if not impossible) to share them with anyone. I discovered that, pretty much, no one cares. Which makes sense. After all, the book is something that happens in my head. It's hard to convey that to anyone else. And, it's almost impossible for non-writers to understand that writing "process".

But, life lessons aside, I'm one happy, happy camper right now. Because I am finished. I finished my book early Friday afternoon.

Can you believe it? FINISHED!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I'm not "done" done. The book will now sit for at least a month before I start to edit it. And, it will have to go through several edits before I can even think about doing anything with it. Eventually, I hope it will be publishable, but I'm a long, long way away from even finding that out. There's also a certain amount of disbelief over the thought that I'm done with the first draft. In some little corner of my mind -- no matter how determined I was to finish -- I believed I would not complete the book. There were just too many doubts, and too many things working against me. And, I have to admit, I feel a little bit sad to see the story come to an end. Tired, too -- as if I have been on a long journey with my characters. Which, really, I guess I have.

But, no matter what happens in the future. No matter what happens when I edit. No matter if the book sells or not. The plain and simple truth is that I am finished. I did it. I wrote a book, and no one can take that away from me. This makes me happy. Very, very happy. =)