Watty exults:

Well, maybe not exults, but...
The story is done. At least, the first version of it is done - I am determined to see this project through now; people have been so kind and encouraging that I feel I should carry on working on it. There are several things to be done: rewriting the opening chapter, for instance, it's full of infelicities and doesn't really sit with the style of the rest of it (which is fair enough - I didn't know it was going to be a 35.000 word novella when I started); I know there are some minor plot holes which will need filling, and at least one extraneous red herring which is just a distraction. Also, I have this idea that it mght be readable for someone who has never heard of Mornington Crescent, so there will need to be some explanatory stuff blended in subtly early on. It has also occurred to me that I have never described any of my characters, so that people with their own opinion of what Tilly looks like might have been surprised by the short hair and the fact that she was significantly shorter than me in the last chapter. Then I really need to para break the speech, since it's quite difficult to read at the moment; proof read it, and probably rewrite other chunks which I rushed or didn't think through properly. But I really want to do this, even if it takes as long again to complete. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to have completed this large piece of prose - around 120 pages of standard sized paperback, I reckon - not bad for a beginner...