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.