First Time NaNoWriMo Participant - The End

Well, what do you know? I did it!

50,317 Words - WINNER!

That's right!  I actually did it!  If you've read the progress reports in past posts, then you know that there were quite a few days that I had struggled through.  I didn't think I was going to make it and I wasn't alone.  I saw that there were a large number of people having the same trials I was.

My biggest obstacle was my own mind.  I doubted the path that my characters were leading me down.  I doubted my own ability in steering them through the challenges they faced.

I'm sure other writers can relate.  I've seen a few of my favorites give interviews or blog about similar issues.  I can keep telling myself to let go of the fear and doubt, but it has a way of sneaking in through the nooks and crannies and planting seeds that can take root and feed.

Thanks to a great amount of poking and prodding by some very key people, I surpassed the goal with hours to spare.  Six of them to be a bit more precise.

Here's the rub.

I'm not done!

I have 50,000+ words on a book that I need to add to in order to complete it.  I have a strong foundation to work from and characters that I have come to know and actually enjoy!  Well, except for one.  There is one secondary in particular that I'd love to kill off, but I think I'll just lock him up in a cell for a long while.  He might even have a limp.   Oh! Maybe he'll learn a lesson in basic human kindness from his cellmate.  Or he'll be fully schooled on obsessive possessive behaviors by an unwelcome stalker.

I had already decided that if I didn't get my 50k, I was going to continue on no matter what.  It was more about setting the goal, and making sure that I achieved it - right along with the other hundreds of thousands of participants.  I had only myself to blame if it didn't work out.

I could blame any number of things for not attacking the goal every single day, but the truth would have been that I didn't really apply myself.  I would have known that I hadn't from the numerous times I'd procrastinated on various sites.  I need only look at my Facebook feed, Pinterest boards, Tumblr, or Twitter.  They had all aided me in ignoring my writing altogether.  It wasn't their fault exactly, they didn't know.  I used them to hide away from the very people I'd promised that I would write about.  Shame on me.

So, now what?

Now, I finish what I had begun on November 1, 2013 and make sure that my character's story is ready to go out for review.  I also have the draft I wrote in August/September that I need to go over just once more before deciding whom to send it to.

If anything happens with either of these works, I will be sure to let you know here, and on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter.