The novel is done (1)

Yes folks, I've reached the end. The epilogue is finished, which means the novel is finished, which means I now have precisely 200 pages of completed MS - around 84,000 words - with a beginning, middle and end.

Yay!

The reason I've added a (1) suffix to this post header is that I now have 12 days before my delivery deadline to rewrite and polish. Given the timescale I'm working too, that's pretty good. In a perfect world, of course, I'd put it aside for a month or two before getting into the editing. And spend a lot longer doing it. But that's the way of this ghost-writing lark.

So watch out for a post coming soon with a (2) suffix. That'll mean I've finished polishing and actually delivered. At that point, I'll be putting my feet up, at least until the edit comes back from my client. Then it'll be time to start whipping the second draft into shape ...

In the meantime, am I happy? As a clam!