After 116,000 words, the first draft of my fourth novel is in the bag. Sure, there’s all the back and forth with the publisher, the revisions, the galleys, the corrections and whatnot, and it’ll probably be a year before it’s on bookshelves anywhere, but this is the point that I consider a book to be pretty much done. I’ve been in a good mood all day with the finish line growing ever closer; now I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself.
– Actual conversation –
VD: Hey, guess what? I’m done. With the book.
SB: So, you now just have to write the epilogue or whatever?
VD: No, I wrote that too. I was on a roll today. Four thousand words.
SB: Wow, that’s great, honey. Are you going to send it in tomorrow?
VD: No, I’m just –
SB: (buries head in hands)