Hi there,
Remember how I told you last month that my characters had apparently decided they'd waited long enough?
Well, apparently they meant it. Because after months of writing, arguing with fictional people, and occasionally wondering whether this book would ever end, I can finally say it:
I've finished writing Nomad! 🎉
And yes, I actually typed those two wonderful little words: The End.
Of course, that doesn't mean the book is quite ready for publication. But unlike authors who write a rough first draft and then spend months rewriting it, I tend to draft pretty cleanly. I edit as I write, so by the time I reach the end of a manuscript, I'm generally happy with the story itself. There aren't multiple drafts waiting to be written. What comes next is the final editing process.
Tomorrow, I'll start going through Nomad from beginning to end, looking at the bigger picture as well as the little details. Does the story work as a whole? Have I tied up the important character arcs? Are there inconsistencies or plot holes I've overlooked? And, of course, there's all the usual housekeeping: punctuation, spelling, repeated words, awkward sentences, and those pesky little crutch words that somehow sneak into everything.