To Fizz or Not to Fizz

Deb: I've just finished my second copy edit in the last three and a half weeks, the first for the UK, the second for the US. The scribbled-on manuscript went into the Fed Ex drop at at quarter to six this afternoon, just under the wire. We writers all know what a HUGE relief that is . . . sort of.

But it's also wrenching, the last birth pang of a book that's taken us a good few months, and sometimes years, to bring to life. It's our last chance to get it right, to participate in the story, to check our logic, to make sure that our characters have done and said all the things we'd like for them to do and say. Because the next time we see these pages, they will be typeset--a real BOOK. And although we'll read for type-setting errors, we will then be outside the story. Observers, not writers.

Today, the book is out of my hands. So elation is mixed with a smidgen of sadness. My brain is fried. (I meant to blog about a very interesting true crime, but discovered I simply could not contemplate the repercussions of DNA testing. Not today.)

So what did I do to celebrate? Champagne? Dinner at Rick's Chophouse? (the most elegant option in my town.) Not exactly.

I was thrilled to wash my hair. I made tortellini and watched a little mindless TV. I thought about how much I would LOVE to clean my house and do a little work in the garden Read a good book. Sleep.

But by tomorrow, I suspect that the next book, put in abeyance these last few days, will be making nagging demands. And that perhaps I can contemplate that champagne cocktail.

So what about you, my fellow Jungle Red writers, and you, dear readers? How do you celebrate the last touches to a book, or a major milestone?