Glowy Exhaustion

Today marks a quite significant life moment, which I felt the need to immortalize here on this hub of cultural fascination--my blog. (Thank you to my 4-5 readers, I do it all for you guys.)

So what is this moment of such pristine foreboding, such enigmatic mystery? Well, if you've already seen my recently-updated Facebook status (worded specifically to get a reaction from those reading it on the newsfeed), you know.

For those not addicted to Facebook, liars, I finished a complete draft of my book. (Insert symphonic applause here.) I freakin rule.

Not only can I impress my Writing 140 students with this illustrious accomplishment, I can also scoff at them when they complain about writing a 5-7 page paper. "Five to seven pages? I could write that in my sleep," I'll say. Or maybe I will just pause for 10 seconds and then quip, "I just wrote five pages. In my head."

Though, now that it has been about 20 minutes since I hit save on my last chapter, the glow is muting into exhaustion. I'm tired. My eyes feel like they've been serrated with sand paper.

Like Obama's promise to go through our budget line-by-line, starting Monday I will comb through my pages, paragraph by paragraph. Like an archaeological dig, I will chip away bad sentences and repetition with a toothpick, wishing I could have just written the book perfectly the first time like "real" writers probably do.

Needless to say, as thrilled as I am with myself, the moment is bittersweet. This is just a pit-stop on the long journey ahead.