DONE!

On Sunday at 8:38 PM after 24 days of almost daily writing I crossed the 76,000 word finish line and finished my first novel (well the draft - let the editing begin)!

I'd been fighting a rash of writer's block around 6 or so, sitting on the cusp of finality but finding only blocked brain cells in the way. It looked something like this:

But I soldiered on starting and deleting a sentence five times before one stuck which built into another and another when suddenly I look up a couple hours have passed and I'm putting in my last period.

Everyone asked how I was going to celebrate finishing my 50,000 words and the truth is I did it much the same way I did actually finishing the first draft itself - with shiny new avatars:

The sad fact is that like most of my creations there never is a definitive finishing point, there's always editing then getting it into some sort of publishable form (and finding someone to publish it if I hadn't decided to go the self route). It's much the same with paintings, well here it is done, but I still need to photograph it, list it and then get someone to buy it. By the time it's out the door most of the thrill is gone.

I seem to parcel out celebrating so that there never is one giant WHOOP only small ones spread out over the months and year. And yes, I am thinking far too much about how I celebrate when I have a book, something I never thought I'd attempt, sitting on my hard drive.

And if you're wondering why I'm only blogging about the accomplishment now I have a gigantic painting sitting down in my basement that's been eating up my time.

Meet Canvas Gigantis:

She's 4 feet tall and 2 foot wide! Never before seen out of the wild!

I have no idea what I'll do to celebrate finishing my largest painting, maybe something avatar related.