Coming back up for air...

Yes, Virginia, the novel is finished. It came to around 77,000 words.

I finished it while dealing with a horrible stomach flu last week. For the most part I lived on Gatorade and slept a lot when I wasn't writing.

This week I worked on a novel proposal. I had never written one before, so I had to research how to do it.

When I started writing it, I had to keep referring back to my manuscript. Which is how I discovered I had to reprint half of it - understand that the manuscript is 365 pages long. That is a lot of paper. Reprinting half of it meant more trees died.

Add two copies of a thirteen page proposal, a one letter query, the first 50 pages of the novel for an editor to see, and a cover letter, and I probably mailed nearly a ream of paper.

I admit looking at the novel fully printed was a funny feeling. I almost couldn't believe I had typed all that in the space of five months. It was a major stack, believe me.

Now that it's off to Oregon (in preparation for a Novel Workshop I'm attending next month) I can concentrate on some short stories that have been neglected.

And, yes, the blog that has been neglected too.

Am I forgiven, Tina? ;-)