I finished the book. in Write of B+

So, I finished the book. Fantastic, huh? FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. I posted on Facebook that I was done, 51k+ words. Did my happy dance which is terribly Urkle-like, since I have about as much rhythm as I have singing ability (hint: NONE). I thought I did the *RIGHT thing. I blocked this and that person. I *thought I blocked my chain of command from seeing it.

Nope.

*Fail.

*GROAN

I, of course, did not realize it until I was sitting my happy little ass, basking in the glow of post-writing-completion-orgasm (okay, so maybe it's a writer thing... or maybe it's a me thing, but it really feels like that well satiated feeling after a really good orga- you know what, never mind). I was doing my thing. Pushing buttons, saying '10-4', you know the regular thing.

Well, my Sgt comes to the window and is chatting about this and that, eating the Chewy Sprees that I buy for the shift because candy makes them happy, and a happy officer is a nice officer. True story, bro! LOL Anyways, he's like- So, c'mere. So I get up and I walk over to the little window/door where we pass along paperwork and Chewy Sprees. I'm standing on one side, he's standing on the other.

"So, what's up with this word thing?"

I kind of look at him like, what the hell are you talking about. So he continues, "You know, Facebook, you like posted that you got to fifty something thousand words?"

So, the first thing I do is blush. And the second thing I do is speak before I think. I blurt out- "First of all, Y'ALL aren't supposed to be able to see that. I thought I blocked you guys. I apparently didn't. My fail. Second of, it's 51k words. I wrote 51k words."

"Why?"

"Well, Sargeant, November is National Novel Writing Month, where a group of us friends get together and see if we can write 50k words between Nov 1- Nov 30."

"How big a group?" he asks curiously. I shrug (probably coyly... lol).

"I don't know? A couple of million of us world-wide."

"Why?"

"Because Shawn, we like it?"

"So, what happens when you reach the 50k words?" He pops a few more Chewy Sprees in his mouth.

"Well, if you hit 50k words and you complete your story, you win!" I of course can't just say 'you win'. No, that'd be too *NORMAL for me. No, I have to do a fucking football endzone touch down gesture, like I'm fucking signaling the winning touchdown.

"Ooh-kay, what do you win?" he has now popped so many chewy sprees in his mouth, I'm surprised he's not choked.

"Um, the satisfaction of completion? I mean, what else do you want?"

"50k words is like, almost a novel," he says with that dismissive gesture I could probably never pull off without it looking forced.

"Um, that's probably where the 'Novel' part of National Novel Writing Month probably comes in," I counter. He narrows his eyes at me, suspiciously.

"So, after you write the novel, then what?"

"Some people submit it for review of a publisher in hopes it's published, other self publish, folks like me just bask in the glory of a job well done," I grin at him. "and they let all their friends read it."

"Ah, okay. I guess I just don't see the point in it," he shrugged. I shrugged and start walking back to my console to push buttons and say '10-4' some more.

"I suppose, each to their own, I enjoy it," I explain.

"So, some people publish them, huh?" he asked. I nod.

"I have, in the past, published my works," I share. He looks at me.

"Really? Like, for money?" He asks.

"As opposed to what? Yeah, for money," at this point, I'm laughing at him, but I'm also starting to get tired of this conversation. I have ADHD really bad and when my meds wear off, if I don't take a second dose of the weaker stuff, I have a hard time concentrating, like now... when I should be editing, but instead I'm here.

"Do you make good money? I mean publishing?" he asked. I shake my head.

"I don't make 'quit my job' money, if that's what your asking, but it's not too bad," I lie. I think I've made all of $30 in my lifetime on print and digital books. I great at writing, crappy at marketing.

"Oh, okay." Then he just kind of walks away. Huh. How about that?

On my favorites is designing my cover. I have a 'working cover' until she's done, but I'm really excited to see what she comes up with. She's super awesome, and of course I'm giving her credit for cover design.

She's the ONLY other person who has a copy of the story (rough, unedited, etc...).

Okay, procrastination over. Back to editing. I have that work place to go to tonight. Always fun.

Car, car, car... one day I will share how I ended up with Alex's car... and he ended up with a new car, and now our cars are 'technically' red/white/blue (although the white is silver and the blue is like graphite metallic sparkly blue-gray). SO patriotic. :D

And if I ever figure out how to put a picture in here, I'll share the temp cover and when Sassy finishes the cover, her cover art...