I finished it. Today. My novel. It was, coincidentally, a good date to complete something: 7-7-09. I typed the last sentence this afternoon, cleaned up a bit of the random grammar mistakes, tinkered with some dialogue, and then stood in my bedroom, looking at my laptop. And it was done. I wrote a book. Today, I wrote a book. I did it. It was on my list of things to do, and I did it. I got married, I had kids, I bought a home, and I finished a book, and no matter what happens, I– like, woah. I wrote a book. And not only am I proud that I stuck with this to its final completion, I’m also proud that it was SUCH a vast deviation from my actual life. I love being a mom, but it was amazing to write about something that had not a SINGLE thing to do with mothering, or buying groceries, or folding laundry. I wrote something I didn’t know. I took on a new adventure. And every time I tell people this is about zombies, I feel like I should say, like, it’s about zombies in the way that ‘Frankenstein’ is just about a monster. Which is to say– not really. There are zombies, yes, tons and tons of hungry zombies; but this whole novel is a meditation on death, on sacrifice, on youth, and primarily on love. And it’s perfect. It’s what I wanted to say. I typed those last words in and I felt suddenly like it was complete. I sent it off to Ali tonight for her professional opinion. She should have some great advice on getting it published. And then– oh my God, I guess– I guess next is the actual publishing. I don’t even know what I’ll do when that happens. Okay, wait. I totally do. I thought of this when I was jogging the other day. I imagined myself in six months or a year, and I thought, “One day, I’ll be running this path, and I’ll look the same, and I’ll be just as slow, but I’ll be a real paid AUTHOR.” It was the best thing I could fathom– I’m sure the way some people look around their house and think SOME DAY, there will be a horde of children filling it up. An AUTHOR. One day. And I thought, “When I get an official letter wanting to buy the book, I’m just going to set up my laptop camera and hold it up for everyone and scream and cry for thirty minutes.” And if that doesn’t sound like heaven on Earth to you, I just don’t know. AN AUTHOR. IT’S DONE. I FEEL LIKE I’M GOING TO FAINT AND THROW UP AND IT’S AWESOME.