Completing A Goal, Big Anklevich Style

At the start of the month, I made a bunch of goals that I wanted to accomplish during this turn of the moon. We're nowhere near seeing all the moons phases yet, but I managed to complete one of the goals that I set. Which one? Well, I made this goal:

Goal #2: Finish off THE GAUNTLET this month.

That's right, just the other night (Friday to be exact) I got to write those two sweet words onto the end of the document that I had been working on for something like four months.

I have finished writing The Gauntlet.  It's pretty dang exciting to achieve something so large as that to me. The crazy thing is that it's now the third time that I can say that I have accomplished such a thing. This one was the largest so far. Here's a shot of the final word count for the book:

According to an article in Writer's Digest that I just found searching the internet, 120,000 words in 480 pages. That's a pretty good value if you are shopping for a book to read, right? Hopefully it will keep readers happy as they make their way through it.

When I finished writing it, I got that buzz of excitement, that feeling of satisfaction that comes with achievement. It was pretty neat. Unfortunately, I don't really have anyone to celebrate it with. I texted the pictures above to Rish Outfield, but I didn't hear anything back from him that night. 

He had called me earlier in the day, thinking I was probably already done, so that he could suggest what he thought I should write next, and we'd talked for about an hour, but now that I was actually done, he wasn't available. 

I called my wife as I drove home, but she's not a writer, and doesn't really like the kind of stuff that I write. I usually don't share it with her, because I fear what any disapproval from her might do to my confidence to continue. Once, years ago I stupidly shared an in-progress work with her, and her comments derailed me. 

She was nice, and told me congratulations. I wanted to celebrate somehow, but the endless yawns she was giving me over the phone made it clear that it was going to be unlikely that she would be awake when I got home, and by the time I did, she was snoring away, not interested in partying with the likes of me.

By the next day, the buzz was gone, of course. So, I didn't really do anything at all. I guess that's the breaks when you have no friends that live nearby.

This morning, Rish called, and asked me what I had done to celebrate. I told him the story I just told you, and said, "maybe I should get myself a diet soda to celebrate with." You see, as a sugar addict, I've celebrated with food my whole life. I've commiserated with food too. I've soothed my anxiety with food. I use food for just about any occasion that I can think of, really.

I decided to grab a soda, and celebrate with it. Which of course led to me cheating with a few other things as well, as I knew I would if I opened the door and gave myself permission. Now it doesn't feel like a celebration at all. Just a stupid addict doing what a stupid addict does. I guess it kind of removes a little of the triumph of the achievement really. Especially considering that another one of my goals for the month was:

Goal #3: Eat a Zero-Carb Diet this month.

 What I did today caused me to fail in the achievement of that goal. Now, I didn't expect to be 100% perfect. I was trying to get as many days zero carb as possible, and today has been one fewer day. Not the end of the world, but just a bit of suckitude mixed in with the triumph. 

Maybe after my next book, I'll have figured out a better way to celebrate. When we were on the phone, Rish also suggested that I buy myself a toy for my collection instead. I probably should have gone that route instead. Maybe I'd feel better about myself if I'd done that instead. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Maybe even save up some money so that I can buy something really cool without busting the budget. Have that money sitting there, but unusable until I finish the book. Could be a good incentive too.