I am not even joking

I finished the last word of my novel, "sleep," at 11:59 p.m. I am that good.

Or that bad, I suppose, depending on how you look at it.

So, as of right now, my final word count is (and yes, I know, I broke the rules and am also probably crazy and sick and sleep-deprived and totally just hallucinated a spider on my hand): 54,847 words.

54, 847 words!!!! That's so much! I don't think I've ever written this much, and certainly never in a 30 day stretch. But I'm done.

Wait, I just have to write that again: I am DONE.

My shoulders are cramped, my fingers are exhausted, my contacts are glued to my eyeballs, but I am DONE. It's a magical feeling.

Look!



I don't know exactly how I ended up going over 4,847 words, but I think it mostly has to do with how the climax of my novel spiraled wildly out of control. It's such a clusterfuck. Also, I have WAY too many characters, many of whom get neglected for most of the novel only to pop up at random times. Also, I had to wrap up the end of my novel WAY too quickly (time constraints, y'know). But all can be fixed in the eventual editing process.

Now, it's time to concentrate on getting better, doing my job, and drawing again. I may even draw some pictures of these characters. Who knows??

Anyways, it's been quite an interesting month. I may have some more reflections tomorrow, but right now, my brain just put up a GONE FISHING sign (brain, have you learned NOTHING from my novel or "End of the Line"??) but when it gets back, we'll see what it has to say.

Thank you to all of you who followed my blog, and especially those of you who commented. It's nice to know that someone out there cares.

MantoWriMo is over. I can have my life back.