Another Win on the Books | Now to Finish Said Book

I did it. I won.

Oh my aching fingers!

Ever since the calendar flipped to December 1, I’ve felt like breaking out in song: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” 

At least, that's what I imagine it feels like for many writers across the globe right now.
November is over and it feels like I can finally get my life back! This monster known as NaNoWriMo has taken over my life for the past 30 days. But for the second time I crossed into the National Novel Writing Month winner’s circle by successfully penning 50,000 words worth of a novel in just one month’s time.

That oh-so-wonderful 50,000^th word was written November 30^th at approximately 8:53 p.m. Upon realization that I had crossed the magical word count threshold, I promptly jumped up from my computer desk, grabbed my cat and danced with her around the house for a solid three and a half minutes (or until the song on the radio was done, at which point my cat decided she didn’t really like her dancing partner and I decided I should get back to the task of finishing the novel).

But upon sitting back down to my desk to continue the not-yet-finished-story, a rush of emotions overcame me that anyone would expect upon coming out the other side of such an audacious task as a winner.

The most prevalent of these feelings, of course, was the sheer joy of obtaining a personal goal, that feeling of “I can do anything now!” It’s the type of feeling that leaves you looking for the next big exploit. How about traveling the globe in 80 days? Let me get my shoes. Climb to the top of Mount Everest? I’ll get my coat!

Fifty thousand words in a month? I own that.

Of course, after all the cart wheeling and skipping around the house – scaring your cat all the while, mind you – has subsided and you’ve had about an hour to let the celebration wear off, you realize there is another feeling too. This one is a sort of hallow kind of thing, a “what now?” kind of feeling.

As I said before, I’m not quite done with the story of The Light Within the Darkness. I’m guessing I’ll need another 15,000-20,000 words to accomplish that feat. And even then, it’ll only be a first draft. There are plenty of plot holes that need filled and after that, there’ll be editing and a second draft to write. Almost definitely a third, and quite possibly a fourth. Or fifth and sixth even. I’ll admit this story is in pretty rough shape. (Although, let’s be honest. If anyone’s NaNo novel ever came out as anything other than crap, they were doing it wrong. Or maybe that’s just a lie I keep telling myself.)

So I’ll still be working on my novel, just not in such a fevered way as I had all of last month. I’ll let my friends actually see me now. I won’t be afraid to step out into the sunlight for a bit (although if you’ve ever experienced South Dakota in the winter time, you know I won’t be spending too much extra time in the sub-zero temperatures either). I can get caught up on house chores, do dishes and laundry. Play with my cat a bit, although I'll have to ease into that one probably. She didn't like the dancing session. 

I can actually afford time to call my family and say, “hey, yeah I’m still alive; I survived... What? Are you crazy? No, you can't read it yet!”

If you did NaNoWriMo this year, what’s the one thing you’re looking most forward to reclaiming in your life?