The Hungry-Man is on its way!

Major news! The Hungry-Man is one step closer to publication today!

Today I finished the first proper version that has all the right bits in the right places! Please excuse me (or feel free to join in) while I have a little WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!

Ye gods, I hope you enjoy it. I'm exhausted. The analogy of giving birth has never felt more true. From the embryonic initial idea to the (almost) final 64,000 word book-baby, I feel I have more than carried this one full-term. False starts, crises of confidence and some downright terrible writing have plagued me for over a year. I think I'd have rather had morning-sickness and piles! I definitely had the backache and strange cravings in the middle of the night...

But it was worth it. The mad scribblings of NaNoWriMo, where I stripped back my original short story into post it notes and then wrote 54,562 words in three weeks (before collapsing from exhaustion), have been pruned and sorted, edited and added to, and what has emerged is a pretty awesome tale (well, I think so- and so does my Mum- tee hee) of the special bond between a dog and his Mummy, and how far he'd go to keep her safe. It's even a little bit scary too. And you might cry a bit. If you have a dog, you've got no chance of avoiding either emotion. (But I promise no dogs were harmed in the making of this novel. Well, maybe one... but he's not real, so it's OK- isn't it?)

As chuffed as I am today, I know I'm not quite ready to present The Hungry-Man to the world yet (would that be like a christening? Another Strange Idea). It still needs a little more work before it can find its feet and toddle off into the big wide world. By the time I've tidied it up a bit more, I expect it to be a little heftier and healthier, but I still think it's beautiful now- even covered in lack-lustre verbs and unnecessary adverbs.

I just wanted to squeee a little.

So- SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I'll keep you posted xxx