Today we only have one big piece of news! 

The manuscript is finished. Edited, formatted, and printed out, finished. 

Now, no book is ever really "done"--there just comes a point where you stop writing. There will probably be a few minor tweaks in the future, especially if/when it gets taken by a publisher. But I've stopped messing with it, and it's reached a form I'm happy with people other than me seeing. The story is as I want it. 

It took me probably five years to get there--from the initial getting everything down on paper, to the editing, then more writing, then more editing, a few tweaks, and then the pages finally having a corporeal form. I love to look at the stack of pages on my desk! 

In this last editing go round, a lot of things that had been in the manuscript from the beginning went by the wayside. My focus became much tighter, and I think the book is the better for it. 

It runs 351 double-spaced pages, and is just shy of 85,000 words.  351 pages is almost a ream of paper, so imagine a ream of paper minus about 100 sheets. That's it. 

Next week, this gets mailed off to a publisher for perusal. But right now, it's done!