‘Cuz if you imagine someone with a bad Eastern European accent it almost sounds like victim, right? okay, so the clever title thing has never been my strong suit.

However I’m still moving onto a new project. At least, temporarily. Yesterday I finished the draft of my novel I was working on. It turns out that the relief and feeling of accomplishment that comes with saying “I’m done” still hasn’t gotten old ^_^

I’ve exported this draft from Scrivener so I can print it and so I have a copy of it. I’ve made notes at the top of each chapter about things I already know I need to change/bulk up/add/remove/etc. I killed a god. And I drafted a query.

I’m going to be good and set it aside, even though part of me is itching to dive in right now. I’m still too tickled with it. I’d just stare at it and not be able to change anything. So I’ll let it rest. I’ll make sure when I go back to it that it’s really ready to go.

But even better than that, one person has read the first four chapters. She’s had some valid feedback on them, like ‘can you really call this Apathy’s Hero if the main character isn’t actually apathetic?’…but she’s also been very complimentary. I don’t want to say she’s usually mean, because she’s not. But in the past her notes on my stories have included things like ‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t comprehend why your character would do this. It makes absolutely no sense.’

And this time I’ve gotten notes like ‘I like the banter here. I like this new character. Parts of this made me laugh out loud.’

There’s this tiny little voice in the back of my head telling me she’s just learned I’m whiny and is softening the blow, but I’ve managed to suppress that (mostly). There’s this other little voice that’s a little louder telling me I’m just growing a thicker skin and taking criticism better. Honestly, I’d like to believe that one, but it’s lied to me before. Then there’s this almost-but-not-quite-louder voice that says maybe she actually likes the story.

In short, I’m having one of those days where I actually feel like a writer, and I like it. I would bottle this and sell it for like a lot of $$ an ounce if I could ($1. I think that sounds good. That’s the hook. Because then people don’t even think about paying the fee, and I sell millions…of this invisible substance that doesn’t exist ^_^)

What gives you that little buzz that whispers “You’re a real writer”?