Dallas Woodburn is currently a columnist for WRITING magazine. She is a creative writing major at the University of Southern California. She hopes to one day make a career as a successful author and maybe even start her own publishing company. For now, we are happy to welcome her to WORD.

Yes, it’s true. Bring out the balloons, confetti, and "CONGRATULATIONS" banner. I am now a proud mommy of the rough draft of a 248-page, 51,000-word novel manuscript!

I actually finished writing the draft on January 11, but I let my baby incubate in my computer’s hard-drive for a few weeks, so I could read her over again with fresh eyes for the first round of editing. While there was a sense of satisfaction as I typed "THE END" four Wednesdays ago, it was not until this morning, as I held my novel’s still-warm-from-the-printer pages in my arms, that I truly realized what I have accomplished.

I read that some writers print out their work-in-progress at the end of each day, but I was never one to print out my writing until at least the first draft was finished. It seemed like a waste – of paper, and of time. Why bother? Why not just leave my manuscript in my computer’s Word document file until it’s ready to be read and edited?

Well, they say your entire world changes with the birth of your child – and today, when my baby was born, my entire perspective shifted. I am now a printer-outer. Why? Well, when you’re writing, it can be easy to get discouraged. And it can be hard to see the benefits of all your hard work if you are simply typing away, day after day, staring at a computer screen. Scrolling down your virtual pages is not nearly as fulfilling or exciting as holding them in your hands, or watching the stack of words you have written grow steadily taller as the pages pile up. I had to wait nine months (ironically, it actually did take me about nine months to pen the rough draft of my novel) to hold my baby in my arms, when I could have watched her grow on my desk the whole way through. So now I am printing out my pages as I write them, if only to have something tangible beside me at the end of each day, to prove to myself that I am working towards my goals, one page at a time.

Added bonus: if ever (Heaven forbid) your computer were to crash, you wouldn’t lose everything. Think of printing out your pages as investing in life insurance for your baby. :)