The wonderful cathartic exercise known as Nanowrimo is over. If you participated during the month of November then a big ol’ slab of kudos to you! I’m standing gloriously in the winner’s circle still basking in the sunshine and rainbows that erupted from my moving fingers. (Anyone else afraid of what will happen once they venture into the big scary forest known as revision?)
Actually, I’m super excited that I completed 50,000 words in a month (about two thousand more than that actually) and that I have a rough draft to work with now. It is the first time that I made a mad dash from the beginning to the end in less than a year. Usually the process takes a very long time for me.
After spending my first week of Nanowrimo with every member of my family fighting the stomach flu, and my mother in the hospital, it wasn’t something that was at the top of my priority list. But there was something there in the wee hours of the night pulling me toward the keys of my computer. I found solace in those moments, and I pushed myself to get to the end of the Nanowrimo journey because it was the one thing in my life that was for me.
It really is a journey like no other that only those that participate can understand. There were several times when I wanted to quit and my loving (and normally encouraging) husband looked at me like I was nuts (because honestly who in their right mind would think 50,000 words in a month was a good idea) and said at least you tried. As soon as I agreed, my characters would start to nag me and say you HAVE to finish this!
On the last day of Nanowrimo my journey looked pretty bleak. My husband was only home for a quarter of the morning to help with my daughter and I had 11,000 words ahead of me. By the time he left for work, I tackled 4,000 words. It was an accomplishment but not where I needed to be with an 11 month old in my care.
I don’t know if my daughter could tell that mommy was stressing out, but she very quietly played in her playpen for hours while my muse smiled down on me and the words began to fill my mind. Once she was in bed, and I was by myself again that’s when all of the magic happened. I started to write 1000 words every thirty minutes, which put me thirty minutes ahead of deadline time.
There I was at 11:30 with 50,000 words but no end. I couldn’t stop there, so I pushed ahead and wrote some more. I wanted something substantial to end with so after a few weeks I could return to do an edit with a real fresh set of eyes. By one in the morning, I was typing the words ‘The End’.
I won’t know how it turned out until I start to read my work, but in my mind it was beautiful. Besides my daughter, it is the one accomplishment I am the most proud of. I plan on attacking the manuscript sometime next week, and hope that the editing process with result in something that I will want to show to everyone.
I hope that everyone’s Nanowrimo endeavors were as fruitful, and I wish everyone well wishes as they begin the next step in their journey.
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