Finished! Or nearly...

Yesterday, I finished editing the final chapter of my novel!  This took a bit longer than I'd anticipated--I thought I would be done earlier in March, but upon reading the last two chapters before editing, I realized that they didn't work too well.  They needed a massive overhaul to get rid of the boring bits, and ultimately they got condensed into one.  But now it's done!

Today, I began the task of reading the novel through from beginning to end.  I finished the first five chapters (out of 37.) If I can keep up this pace, I have a sporting chance of finishing by the end of March--or at the very least, I will only bleed into April by a few days.  I thought it flowed quite well, and I only stopped a few times to make some minor tweaks.  And here's exactly why I'm reading the whole thing through quickly:  in chapter 3, I mention that a main character has brown eyes, and in chapter 5, they're hazel.  Good to catch these little details before a reader does!

I've been trying to figure out how long I've been editing this beast.  I started keeping track of which chapters I edited each day back in June of 2012 (and in June 2012 I edited chapters 6-11), but I mentioned editing the novel as early as October 2011.  I can only assume that's when I began the first readthrough, but really, what did I do between October and May?  During some of that time, I was working on stories alongside it, so perhaps I only bothered with one chapter a month?  I don't know.  It's hard to fathom, considering the pace I've been setting lately, but I suppose that was possible.  It's a little strange to think, after all this time (eighteen months, all told, if I can believe my own notes) of focusing on this novel, that soon I'll have to bend my creative energies towards something else!

The novel still doesn't have a title, although I've bent some brainpower towards that conundrum.  After finishing my readthrough (and giving my baby a name) I'll be sending it off to readers, and within the next few months, it'll be time to start shopping for an agent!  I've never done that before, so I'll be forging my way into new territory.  There ought to be plenty of anxiety attacks here at Science Fiction Mommy in the coming months!