#29 Done

51,152. This is how many words my novel is. At 7PM, I submitted the 50,000 to get my winners awards. Around 10PM last night, with 72 pages (single spaced), I wrote on the last line of the page "End of book 1". It is completely and utterly done. My word count should probably be higher, but I can't write the way NaNo means for you to. I use the Backspace and Delete keys. I cut and paste and move things around. But in the end, I have a story that's already a little edited. It's not perfect, but... it's done. Hubby and I figured that with an industry standard of 250 words per page, it's around a 205 page novel. And I wrote it in 31 days. I really can't believe I did it.

I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you. Thank you to the TN girls who encouraged me to do Camp and did it with me. I wouldn't be anywhere near this if it weren't for you. Thank you to A, this story would not be half of what it was without you to help straighten out the wrinkles and our little competition to get me writing again in the first place. Thank you to those of you who've been cheering me on in the comments. And the biggest thank you of all to Hubby, for his patience and encouragement this whole month even though you lost your wife to the computer. I love you. This has been my dream for my whole life, and for the first time, that dream's closer than ever because I have a finished novel, and I owe that in part to all of you. If I ever get far enough to actually have an acknowledgements page in a book, you can bet you'll all be in there :)

I'm gonna take a bit of a writing break for now, read some books, watch some movies, do some cooking, but after a little downtime, it's time to pick up the red pen and get to work. I've seen this book to this end, but it's not the last. I'm going to see it all the way through. Besides, now I have task 105 to complete: Edit the hell outta this book. And maybe in November, it'll be time for Book 2 of the trilogy.

Edit: I just realized an entire day later I put it down as 41 done...we have not bought a house... 41 is not nearly done. My bad.