I done got over: on finishing the damn thing

Reader, I did it. As planned, I completed the third draft of my (long-ass, megalomaniac) novel. I took out a character. I worked on consistency in arcs and scenes. I toned down nuns and amped up the villain. And I reinstated a scene I just couldn't say goodbye to - fan(s) will be happy to know Sibyl's first day of school is back in! All of that and ending well under the 200k words, as was my aim.

Does that mean my book is wrap-a-bow-around-it perfect? Not nearly. Does it mean that I won't find anything to fix or fiddle fit? Hell no. But does it also mean I will try to let it be for a while and focus my attention on other stuff? Yes, sirree. And if there's one thing that'll tell you you've worked enough on something, is if you start fixing stuff you already fixed or altering

scenes only to leave them as they were in the first place. Time to move on, alright!

Next level Moving on doesn't mean tossing the novel in the drawer and be done with it. No, it just means I'm going to the next level of trying to get an agent and/or publisher. I plan to focus the next couple of month to getting ready to start querying agents. I'm gonna finetune my synopsis and query letters and hopefully find some folks who are willing to beta-read the whole novel. And then it's time to try and get it out there.

That also means I will have to reinvent my agile writing practice. It probably will become my agile dealing-with-rejection-practice :) (and no, this isn't my cynical way of looking at the world but just a very real part of being a writer). I am not yet sure what do to with these release notes. I may keep them. I may find another use for them all together. And who knows, maybe I'll get withdrawal symptoms from not writing regularly and start something new....