Man, that was hard. I mean, who knew that a book could take so darn long to write? And it's not even there yet. It's kind of like a hard boiled egg with that one undercooked spot you weren't expecting - except mine has about a gazillion of them!

Still, I got the story out despite the weasels, penguins and game show trials. WOO HOO! Now I'm going to let it fester in a corner for two weeks while I edit the magazine article that will change my life...and make my Grandma proud.

To my fellow Write-Ons: I hope this isn't the end of our friendly banter and sharing of the writing life. I'm keeping these blog links up until I become really famous and my web site manager tells me that Bob Barker, Josh Holloway, and Weird Al want to be featured in that spot. That would be tres cool.

I have only one person to blame for my sleep deprivation and cramped fingers: Michelle Rowen. Damn you for giving me a deadline that I didn't think I'd be able to meet!

Writing a first draft was a lot harder than I expected it to be. It also takes a lot longer to write 71,000 more words than I'm normally used to for a project. This is one writer who thinks 1,500 is a long piece. Never again.

This has been an experience, to say the least. Hopefully the revisions won't take as long as the year that the first draft did! Maybe I'll even come up with a title that I like by the end of the year. Or I could have a little contest. Whaddya think?

Now I must celebrate with some frozen Girl Guide cookies...