120,547 words. Twelve chapters. 360 pages. Three years of work. Done.
I’m in talks with a publisher now, hoping for a spring 2011 release and book tour.
Finishing it provoked a feeling that’s difficult to describe. And of course it’s not completely done — I’m sure my editor and I will come up with some final tweaks. But after three years, to have something so close to final form — to feel I’ve done everything I can do, and the rest will be up to a collaboration with a professional… Well, intellectually it feels great. But as for the visceral aspect, what I feel is… hollow. Like some great part of myself has been extracted. Nothing else has really sunk in.
Perhaps when I actually see the book as a physical object, I will feel the way I expected to feel from the first: like a proud mother.
Thanks to all of you for helping me through this. I couldn’t have done it alone.
Love,
Pamela
.
Fast Times in Palestine is in bookstores worldwide! 
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December 24, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Vicky
It sounds fascinating. I really hope it has a wide audience, particularly in the USA – judging by the contents your blog, it’s exactly what people need to read. I will be in Palestine if it comes out in the spring, but I will pre-order it before I go.
I felt quite empty and dispirited when my book was finished. Working on a book is such an all-consuming thing (even when you’re not writing, you’re thinking about writing) that I think it’s natural to slump once your manuscript is finally taken off your hands. I continued to feel hollow even after publication – it was only when I started to get letters from readers that it finally hit me: you’ve done it!