I did it! I did it! I did it, hooray!

Yes, my friends, it is true. I challenged the Nano beast and I won! I reached the 50,000 mark today (50,015 to be exact). My novel is finished . . . well except for the revising, submission material writing, researching, submitting, submitting, submitting, and submitting . . .

But for now it is a good feeling to have reached the goal of getting the first draft out of the way.

In the beginning I questioned whether it would be easier to write with an outline. I can officially say it was (for me, anyway). And perhaps outline is too general a term. This was more like a chapter by chapter synopsis (hereinafter referred to as CBCS). Did I stick to the plan? No, but I like the direction the story took so I'll probably keep it the way it is now. But I do have the CBCS to refer back to if I decide to change my mind.

There are some holes I'll need to fill in, some scenes to flesh out, and some details to check when I go back and begin revising, but it is such a good feeling to have a small sense of completion.

I think I'll jump right in and use the rest of the day to begin my revisions. Of course I'll have to save my revisions as a separate document so I can use my current version to verify my word count with Nano . . . you know, in case my revisions take the book back below the 50,000 word mark.

I think this is the first time I've been really excited to jump in to revisions . . . maybe that's a bad thing. I probably ought to take my happy moment and sense of accomplishment and call it a day. But the revision bug is itching . . . I've got to do something . . .

Write on.