Manuscript is in the Mail!

Well, I did it . Today I packed up my nearly 250-page manuscript and sent it off to the editor. Then I took a mini vacation in Barnes and Noble where I spent about an hour musing amongst the books and wondering if my own book will ever be sitting on those shelves. If God wills it, it will happen.

I went through a panic after I handed the box over to the post office woman. Did I make sure all the pages were there? Did I check every page to make sure all the highlighted words were gone. (That's how I find repeated words, phrases, beats, etc.) I know I did all that yesterday as it was printing, but even so I asked myself if I'd overlooked something. I've always been something of a control freak, although I've mellowed in recent years. But, a situation like this is so huge. Until now this story was under my control. I could always change a word, add a line, take out a scene. But now it's over. There's nothing more for me to do until I hear from the editor. That's not exactly true. I will be pitching it to potential agents in Colorado, but until I hear from the editor I won't be sending it to any other publisher.

Time to move on and finish judging for the ACFW contest and most of all--clean my condo!! My little home has been neglected over the past couple months as I've focused almost entirely on this novel. Starting tomorrow instead of a keyboard under my fingers, I'll be hanging onto a dust rag! Then it's get ready for Colorado. I leave next week!

For the rest of today I think I'll relax a little by judging a contest entry. It never stops. :-)