THE END

Yesterday, at 2:55 p.m., when my last class was watching the 1963 version of Lord of the Flies, I tapped out the last scene in School Spirit and typed "The End."

I made my goal of five months with one day to spare! The first draft came in at 226 pages.

Now I'll let it sit for a week or so and start revisions during summer school. I hope to have the second draft done by the end of summer school (six or seven weeks from now). In the meantime, I'm rethinking the opening of the book and I may work on the synopsis or query. At that point, I will give the second draft to some carefully selected readers for feedback and make more revisions.

With luck, I'll be sending out queries by the end of the year. Now that the book is officially done, the real work begins!