Realizing a childhood dream

I started cross-stitching yesterday. I eagerly ordered a kit online complete with pattern, cloth, thread and needle. I started doing it all wrong and had to start over. 24 hrs later, my work is a lot neater! The first few lines of stitches look terrible in the back - and a bit in front. But it's so lovely seeing how things change with just a little more experience. Progress! It's killing my hands though, I really need to get a loop to hold the cloth taunt. As you can see in the picture, the left is neat and I have my tail tied nicely. On the right was my epic mess! This is the back of the cloth by the way.