A happy ending.

Yesterday at work I hunkered down and started writing in earnest.  I did nine full pages after lunch, writing almost non-stop.  This morning I finished “The World” at 17 pages, and in doing so finished the first draft of A Proper Fool.  I noticed that it was 11:00 when I put the pen down, which multiplied by 2 equals 22 – the number of cards in the major arcana, and the number of chapters I’ve written.  I’m not sure what this means, if anything, but I feel compelled to make a note of it.

Immediately after finishing I listened to “What’s Up?” by 4 Non-Blondes, which is my traditional way of marking the completion of a long manuscript.  I first did this back in 1996 when I finished writing The Secret Ministry of Frost, my first novel-length manuscript.  I don’t know exactly what compelled me to do this, but it just seemed right.  I also listened to “Crucify” by Tori Amos, which was the theme song of that particular manuscript.  My theme song for A Proper Fool has been “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel.  I listened to that song after “What’s Up?” 

In the last week or so I’ve been moaning a lot about how I don’t want this to come to an end, but right now I feel really good about it, proud of myself for making it to the end.  I know that I’m not really done of course – I still have to type the last two chapters up and then look at the whole thing with a critical eye toward revision, but the story is now DONE.  I don’t want to spoil it for anybody, but I will say that it has a happy, albeit somewhat bittersweet, ending.  It seems to me that this is perhaps the best kind of ending to have.

Currently Listening Bigger, Better, Faster, More! By 4 Non Blondes What's Up? see related