Well, I’m done.
Yesterday I looked down and saw that my word count had reached 50,000. I validated my novel on the NaNoWriMo site and it was official. I win.
I feel like I should be more excited about this. Truth was, I knew I would do it. About two days in I knew I would do it, which takes a lot of the glory out of it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy, I’m proud. I’m just not elated.
Plus, I’m still writing. 50,000 words brought me to the point just before the point before the climax, if that makes sense, so of course I have to keep going. Coupled with the fact that this morning I killed a character…
I had to do it! I’m sorry!
So, to recap the whole thing and maybe to make it all sound grand, here are three of the best things about NaNo.
1. Getting immersed in a new story.
Just for a month I had nothing else to write. I could focus on my characters, my world, my plot, and just getting it out there. I didn’t have to worry about editing or censorship (though I did edit and censor). I really got to love my characters, or at least some of them. Hence, why I feel bad for killing one off.
2. I get a new story.
A new, full length, first draft is like a heap of playdough that I now get to mould into something awesome.
3. Pushing myself and blasting past boundaries.
I’ve never ever written 50,000 words in a month. And now I know that it’s actually not that hard.
And then, lest you think it was one giant picnic, three of the worst things about NaNo.
1. Editing and censorship.
This novel covered ground that I’d never written before, and sometimes it was confusing. For the sake of the story the characters had to do and say things that I wouldn’t do or say. That challenge was not to appear to be condoning them so much as just saying ‘this is what this person is like’.
2. So called “writers block”
Getting in the bulldozer and writing crap until I busted through the block wasn’t fun, but it needed to be done.
3. Getting tired of coffee.
I drank so much coffee while writing that, after a while, I didn’t feel like drinking it, but I did, which made it worse… and now I’d probably go through all kinds of withdrawal if I quit.
Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? Got any stories, lessons, or hardships to share?
Geralyn Wichers 
Nice post! =) I feel a lot of the same things–I’ve written close to or over (some months WELL over) 50,000 words a month for somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 of the last 10 months, so it no longer seems like a huge accomplishment; in fact, it makes writing very much less than that seem like a FAILURE! My sense of achievement has been skewed and ruined by my success in proliferation, heh.
Perhaps double NaNoWriMo is next for you? :). Always gotta keep reaching higher. Congrats for writing so prolifically.
Ha! I can do 50-60k, but 100k in a month–I’d get nauseated every time I TRIED to write for 6 months afterwards! 😉 Thanks!