I've finished the manuscript, added a Table of Contents, only to find I had missed chapter 45 somehow? Must have been a crash or just being tired! Thankfully rectified, but how does it feel? Good but scary as now I need to submit and then adapt a copy with UK spellings for publishers based there, even though the novel is based in the USA.

That's another job, but there is more to write, but I have been editing for so long, I need to write rather then edit! I'm going to at least start the next book, and edit on the side or should I edit the UK version and then get that out of the way?

I have no one to share this with as I've been saying 'final draft' to people for months and then finding editing takes longer than writing!

First off - really big congratulations!

I know what it's like to have no-one to share writing milestones with; none of my friends and family really understand what I'm doing and it's such a long process sometimes that the things that feel like milestones to us don't seem like it to others!

If I were you, I'd do the UK editing before starting anything major new, but if you really feel you need a break from the project, perhaps there's some smaller things that you could do to give yourself a little break, articles or blog posts or something like that?

Thanks! I actually had a sudden burst of writing poetry, so I have been doing that. The only reason why I'm putting off the UK version is that I know I want to keep in some American phrases and things like cellphone as a UK reader will know what it is, but alter the spellings. The irony is that I am British and had to go through it to make it 'American' for the US market!

I also think seeing the manuscript again so soon and editing may make me complacent and I might miss things. So, I'm blogging for a bit and writing short stories that I had been meaning to get around to for the next few days.

Congratulations!!!! Great work Alvin .

I lost chapters 22-30 once, not fun ha ha.

Alvin (06:15pm Sat, Dec  6, 2014)

The irony is that I am British and had to go through it to make it 'American' for the US market!

Oh dear, how frustrating! Still, I find American spelling off-putting when I'm reading an imported book, so I suppose it's only fair.

Alvin (06:15pm Sat, Dec  6, 2014)

I also think seeing the manuscript again so soon and editing may make me complacent and I might miss things.

Yes, good point. I do find that with the day-job, which is currently the only place where I write really big documents. Enjoy your poetry