74% and a Timeline :)

I am 74% through my manuscript and the story is parallel in its storyline to the amount of words I have written for it.  Today, I just took a really fun turn in the story (kind of an awful twist, but it had to be done).  The idea came to me while I was walking my dog the other night, and it was one of those 'Ah Ha!' moments.  What made it even better was the fact that it was over a mile and a half into the walk and I was passing my street and debating whether or not I should just finish the walk early.  I toughed it out and the creative book idea side of my brain rewarded me for it.

In this extra 3/4 of a mile, I pretty much came up with the final really exciting climax of the book.  The end is going to have to work itself out but I know pretty much how it needs to go.  This climax was something I didn't really have yet but it fit the whole story perfectly.

A week or two ago I purchased the book '2013 Guide to Literary Agents' on Amazon and I started reading through it a few nights ago.  I'm really excited about the whole process I'm going to go through to see if I can get my book published.  Here's my planned timeline:

December 31, 2013:  Finish the first draft

January-March, 2013:  First read through and edit (also take notes on major issues I need to work on..I'm going to take advice from Veronica Roth and her blog post entitled Revision, Day One: The Read Through).  

March 3, 2013: Turning 30 (AHHHHHHH)!

March, 2013:  Sending the manuscript to my friend in Louisiana for a first read through (thanks Dan!)

April-May, 2013:  Revisions and more revisions (tips from Dan and second read through after fixing major issues)

June, 2013:  Sending inquiries to agents

July and on, 2013:  Get an agent, publish book, become successful best-selling novelist. 

Some of those things might not go exactly as planned but it's a rough estimate.

So yea...lookin good! :)

PS...
I'm allowed to be disgustingly optimistic right now because I'm still just writing the first draft...after I get a million rejections I'll definitely change my tune.