Now what? Finishing a manuscript

If you were hanging out on social media with me yesterday you would have seen me post an image of just two words: The End. I put it everywhere – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.

Heck, I would have stapled it to my forehead and worn it to school pick-up had I not been worried about scarring…

To say that I was excited about finishing my edit would have been a world-class understatement. That particular manuscript is now with my agent and I am anxiously awaiting her feedback. Hurry up and wait… that’s publishing for you.

If you’ve been playing along at home, you’ll know that I’ve written and edited two entirely separate middle-grade manuscripts since 1 November last year. One I wrote for NaNoWriMo, one I began on 4 January because the idea swept me up and it seemed best to go with it (note to self: the school holidays are never a good time for this…).

The one I sent off yesterday was that NaNoWriMo manuscript, now drafted, read aloud and edited, then edited again. The second manuscript has been drafted, sent to beta readers and returned for further editing.

You might say there’s been a frenzy of activity round these parts.

Today, I’m sitting here feeling as though I’m suffering the world’s greatest hangover. There’s probably something vital I should be doing, but, frankly, I don’t remember what it is.

Part of me is thinking ‘what now, what should I do next?’. But the sensible other half of me is smacking that part into submission and telling me to go smell the flowers (or at least look at them, see pic), walk the dog, clean the house (gulp).

I’m going to go with that. There’ll be plenty of time for ‘now what?’ while I wait to see what happens with the work I’ve done. For once, I might just embrace the waiting.

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