I have finished a (fairly polished) first draft of my novel! I am so relieved - at one point I thought that it would never be completed and I would have it hanging over me forever, but now I can move forward. It has not been quick (I began in 1994

) but I have finally completed the story. The loose ends are all tied, the plot is resolved and I don't feel as if I need to do any more to it for the moment. The only problem is that it is too short at 60,000 words, but it could be extended if necessary. To be honest, I wrote this as an exercise: to see if I could do it. Now I want to move on to something I feel passionate about. I printed it out and my poor little printer nearly died of exhaustion. I will now give it to a couple of people to read and see what they think!