Weight

Unfortunately I forgot to get paper yesterday so I've only been able to print out seven stories so far, but the last three will be printed out today. I've been reading up on manuscript presentation and formatting tips - the importance of a polished and well-edited manuscript pops up again and again, so I'll have to make sure I edit this draft within an inch of its life.

I'm still on my high from yesterday, which came about from actually seeing my novel on paper. While I sorted the pages, fixed each story together and filed it away, I kept thinking - I Made This. It was no longer all noughts and ones. There it was in black and white. When I handled it, it had weight and texture; it was real. I caught snippets of what I had wrote and marveled that I had written that. Not to say that it was good - some of it was flabby - rather I had made something from nothing. Parts of it I couldn't even remember writing, so strong is The Zone (tm).

I'm no longer dreading the rewrite. Last night before I went to sleep my head was spooling a new, more realistic dialogue for one of the stories. I can't wait to get started.