It's 4:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, March 16, 2014. The sun is shining, the dog is snoring, and I completed Draft 3 of The Novel five and a half minutes ago. (That's 4:24:30, for those who are counting.)
The draft took me 10 months to complete. I cut two chapters and added six, making this draft about 4,000 words longer than Draft 2. The story is much fuller and richer now than it was before, thanks to the helpful ideas from my critique partners, but it is by no means done.
My notes for Draft 4 of The Novel. Each Post-It represents one change I need to make. Some changes are quick and easy: change X in chapter Y. Others are more elaborate and time-consuming: check all dialogue for XYZ.
I still have a Draft 4 to write. And then a query. And then a synopsis. Or maybe a synopsis and then a query. After that, I have to find potential agents and send out those queries and synopses. (Eek!)
But before all that, it's time to celebrate, perhaps with a dance around the living room and an extra piece of Dove dark chocolate.