Gahhhh thud am done.

The fourth Marla Mason novel -- which is probably being called Shell Games, unless we go with one of the other shortlisted choices, which who the hell knows, we might -- is all revised-up and polished and shiny and zooming through the ether toward my editor's inbox.

Yesterday I did the big changes. The novel got a whole extra chapter. New scenes scattered here and there. Etc.

Yesterday, I did not leave the house.

Today I line-edited. Did some in the morning, then took a long walk with wife and son around the lake, because it's a gorgeous weekend, and if I hadn't gone outside at all, I would have gone crazy. Of course, as a result, I had to work work work all afternoon while wife and son went off to join sister-in-law and nephew for goodtime fun. Sigh. But the book is finished -- unless and until my editor wants big changes, and then there's copyediting and proofreading, but I can stop thinking about it for a little while, which is nice. (Because now I can work on my YA proposal, whee.)

Thanks to all my diligent and brilliant and wonderful first readers, who saved me from continuity errors, pointed out sloppy and nonsensical character motivations, chastised me for writing some flimsy pointless bits, and explained to me that birds don't have sphincter control. (That last bit from Jay Lake.) You'll all be lauded in the acknowledgments.

Fly away, little book!