I won NaNoWriMo!
Wow, does my arthritic finger ever hurt. I’ve been pounding away at the keyboard for about 2 hours a night for the last 29 days, with a final push of over 6000 words in a single day today. But it was worth it: I reached the goal of 50,000 words, going over by about 3600 extra words and with one day to spare! And without coffee. Awesome.
It has been a month of incredible highs and lows. Mostly the lows were because of lack of sleep. I’ve had a lot of work to do this month, so all my noveling has been done in the late evenings or early mornings. (I’m proud to say I didn’t write a single word of my novel at work!) My eyes are burnt out from looking at the screen, and my shoulders are killing me. But I slogged through the bad days and got it done, and when I was having a good moment I really felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants. In a good way.
I noticed that when I have a good moment, I’m typing so fast that I’m leaning over to the right, screwing up my face in the same tongue-sticking-out-in-concentration expression that I first remember noting, with some surprise, as I suddenly realized that I could see my reflection in our black lacquered Yamaha piano as I was practicing a piece. What a revelation. I hope no one ever watches me while I’m writing!
On days this month when I was having trouble writing, I was convinced that my novel was the worst thing anyone could ever write. Now I feel like I’ve done a pretty damn good first draft! I’m so glad I stuck it out. I feel like I really achieved something. I’ve never had a full first draft before!
I’ll be doing a little bit of work on it tomorrow, but then I’ll be setting it aside for two weeks so I can concentrate on other stuff, like all the crafts that have gone by the wayside this month. I’ll pick it up again during the holidays, to start on the first revision. For now: WOOHOO!
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