Wrapping up my first novel

It has taken nearly 2 years for me to finish my first novel. It started as a single line of thought while I was relaxing in the bath in July, 2009. In October of that year, I wrote the prologue. Half a dozen versions later, it is still there, mostly intact. A very good friend of mine encouraged me to continue the story so I decided to try something I always wanted to try: National Novel Writing Month.

2/3's of the novel was written during NaNoWriMo. I had a goal and I chased it down. I managed to eek out 60,000 words in 30 days. I was astonished with my success. True, I didn't finish Immortalis 1 (affectionately nicknamed Immo1 so you know) in the 30 days, but I met the word goal of 50,000+ all the same. I put the story away for a while. I went back from time to time to add to my notes, but I mostly left it alone. In October of 2010, I realized that the NaNo was coming up again and made myself sit down and finish Immo1. I finished it two weeks later...or at least finished the first draft.

November 2010 came and went. I decided to put off editing Immo1 for the NaNo and started Immo2 for that year's competition. It is half finished now. I had even more fun writing Immo2 than I did writing Immo1. Continuing the adventure made it all exciting all over again! I'm in serious anticipation of NaNo2011 so that I can write the last part, Immo3. I know most writers don't choose a certain month to start their novels, but Immo and NaNo have become intertwined for me. It doesn't feel right to start the next novel before the competition. Besides, I have a YA urban fantasy waiting in the wings once I finish this trilogy that I haven't associated with NaNo.

Immo1 is now in the hands of some very brilliant folks. While they are doing a last read-through before the final editing, I am searching high and low for some cover art for Immo1. I know a lot of talented artists, but I know nothing about how to licence work of another for my benefit. I suppose a credit in the acknowledgements for the cover art would work beyond payment for the art? No idea. The waiting is killing me. I never imagined writing a book would take such a long time to see it to the end. Maybe that's why I have a dozen notebooks full of writing ideas that never ended up coming to fruition.