Last night, at around 5:00 p.m. or so, I typed "The End", verified my word count (50,079), and gave in to a few tears. A little later, Neal cracked a bottle of bubbly (Martinelli's sparkling cider…not so big on the champagne around here) and set off some fireworks in the back yard. It was a good way to celebrate the all-consuming 29 days of writing (well, I skipped two days. Twenty-seven days of writing).
The discipline of NaNoWriMo has, I hope, served me well. I was able to get a character who had been hanging around since February on to the page. I discovered that even with only half an hour to write, I can bang out close to 1,000 words if I really, really want to.
More importantly, though, I rediscovered the fun of writing. The adventure of it. I loved my MFA program, but since graduating, my own work has seemed burdensome to me. I have felt so serious about the novel I call my "serious" novel (hmmm…wonder why), and I have feared that the writing in that novel has suffered because of my own sense of gravity about it. I'm ready to return to it (not for a week or two. I need to attend to such things as house cleaning and short story submissions), and I want to write the next draft just like I wrote my NaNoWriMo draft: fast and dirty. No more fussing about every word. Not for this draft.
I feel like NaNoWriMo has given me back the gift that I learned to hone while out in New Mexico. And that renewed joy in writing makes me feel like a champion. Going forward, I'll have this bracelet on my wrist and a commitment to one thing: exuberant imperfection.
Congratulations to all my fellow winners. Believe me: if you tried, you are a winner, no matter what your word count.
Well, I crashed and burned, but at the same time I got more writing done than I’ve accomplished since graduating almost two years ago, so that’s something. I think I want to try again next year, though, with a completely different MO. I may have to get the book (would you recommend it?). Thanks for the push in the right direction.
Congrats! I’m soo happy you have rediscovered the love and joy of putting words on paper! xx ya and thank you for supporting me as I crossed the 50k mark just about with you. i miss writing fiction and i find november fun in the past few years that I’ve done nano. i just need to learn to run a more consistent 50k instead of sprinting the last two weeks.
You are a writer and you should feel so accomplished! 50K words!!!! Oo la la! Relax and say aaahhhh. Hugs!
Awesome! I think I “crafted” about 5000 this month, most of which began like this:
Directions: Before you begin this assessment, put your name on it
. . . one of these days I’ll give it a whirl.