I Survived NaNoWriMo 2013

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is what happens when over 300,000 writers spend November scribbling, biting their nails, and consuming way too much caffeine. The goal? A 50,000-word first draft of the novel or his or her choice.

(Or, in my case, a 25,000-word middle grade novel, three short stories, and the rest of my 50k in a long dreaded project that shall remain unnamed here.)

This is the second year I did NaNoWriMo but the first year I actually signed up on the NaNo website, and the first year I won.

By winning, I mean that I pasted all my words into a little text box, hit "validate" and watched the word count bar in the upper right corner turn purple. I printed out the winner's certificate, too, and claimed that winner's badge you see above.

I'll admit it. It felt good to finish.

In October, I planned my middle grade story and made an outline, so once I sat down, the writing flowed smoothly. I'll have to revise, of course. Whole sentences and paragraphs and maybe even chapters will end up in the trash bin. But I think I have plenty of good, useful stuff down, too.

Now, though, I'm not going to look at those words, not for the entire month of December. I'm going to let the words settle into the page, rest my fingers (from both typing and the aforementioned biting), and maybe even switch back to herbal tea.

As to next year, who knows. But I think I'm hooked.