NaNoWriMo Winner!
I didn't think I was going to make it, but this year for the first time I have won National Novel Writing Month! It was the last day and I still have over 9,000 words to go, but with sore wrists and much determination I did it in a day, reaching 50,000 NaNo winning words!
To be honest it was not the best month for me life-wise with lots of other things going on, including final preparations before Futurespan is printed!! But I went in with an open mind, knowing it would be impossible to keep up with the 1,667 a day target, and thinking that it would be nice to win but however many words I end up with will be more than I had before November.
So I did as much as I could after work, didn't write some days - just curled up on my sofa and went to sleep. Did my best to eat and keep my house clean! I caught up on the weekends or days where I had more time or energy. Sometimes 2,000 words, sometimes 4,000, one day 6,000 and I've already mentioned the last day 9,000!
Everyone is different and some people prefer the routine of writing x amount of words every day. But for me, and I imagine many other writers, it just isn't realistic. Life gets in the way. Work gets in the way. Needing to eat takes up precious time. Then there's the whole other issue of what to write next, gaping plot holes, half-imagined characters and worlds that need significantly more building. And doubt... perhaps it's all terrible, there's so many problems, I can't write half as well as so-and-so - but no first draft was without its problems. And no novel was written in a day. Nor, I doubt many have been written in a month. But what does get novels written is DETERMINATION.
The determination to: carry on despite the doubts, despite all of the many other things vying for your attention, despite tiredness, sore wrists and exhausation. It is the deep determination that this novel needs to be written, and however impossible it may seem, however difficult the circumstances that you will carry on and write and much, as often, and as well as you can. Until it's done. (And then there's the editing, but let's leave that for today!)
It's this determination, along with putting the doubts to one side (and letting it be rubbish - for now) and believing I could that got me to 50,000 words. And it is with this those things that I will keep writing the next 50,000 and the many words after that...
Well done to everyone who took part in NaNoWriMo, even those who didn't win - if it gets you writing, that's all that matters. Sometimes life gets in the way, and that's alright, but don't give up, write as much as you can, keep writing and don't ever let doubts hold you back.
