Was just at the FedEx store having copies of my book printed for Sharon to edit, and the clerk asked me what it felt like to write it. "Like having a 113,000-word baby without an epidural," I said. "Wow, that sounds tough," she said. "Yeah, but just look at it," I replied, holding up the thumb drive that held the file. "Isn't she the most beautiful baby you've ever seen?" 

Just finished my novel. Four hundred and seventeen pages, seven months of my life. Still have to edit it, and, you know, find an agent and get it published and all that. But I've written a novel, and this is one of the happiest days of my life!