The dream is within sight!

It seems hard to believe that by the end of this year my first novel will be out through Second Wind Publishing. (Shameless plug to follow -check out the website at www.secondwindpublishing.com.) I finally have a cover for the novel that works and if I can just stop "tweaking" the manuscript and get it to Mike at Second Wind, it will be available that much sooner.

When do you know that you are "done" with a manuscript? That is probably the biggest challenge for me and one that is not unlike what I will be facing this week as my oldest child starts kindergarten. I see a number of parallels between parenting and writing a novel but more on that another time. There are moments when I fear that I will never be completely satisfied with the story because these characters have become similar to my kids and I don't want to let them go even though it is time to "step away from the keyboard" and let the story stand or fall on its own.