Wrapping Things Up

Over the last week or two, I've been doing some editing and polishing on my novel manuscript. After giving it another read-over, and then tweaking a few more bits of it here and there, I think I might have finally reached the point where I'm "okay' with it.

I'm unsure what to think, really; again, having never done this before, I'm not 100% sure what to think, but from what I can tell, I'm happy with the structure of the plot, the flow of the story, the different character arcs, the emotional content, and the resolution. I may still want to pick at a few things, here and there, and I'm sure it could use a copyedit from somebody other than myself, but overall, I don't look at it and think, "This thing needs redoing."

That's not to say that I think it's in its finished form, since I know it probably isn't. After I finished the first draft, though, while I was happy with it, I realized that I needed a redraft to really get things how I wanted. This time around, I don't think a full redraft is going to be necessary, since it looks like I've at least got the story out and on paper the way I want it to be told.

Maybe that's a mark of success: I'm content that I've written something that someone might want to read. I'm not glowing with satisfaction or anything, since I know it's too early to rest on my laurels, but I can look at my manuscript and think to myself, "Yes, that's how this story goes."

Hopefully, that means I'm close.