NaNoWriMo Victory

Today concludes National Novel Writing Month. This was my first year actually doing it, and I did indeed meet my goal.

I didn't officially sign up on the NaNoWriMo site because I didn't want another login and password to remember, nor another website that I'd have to check in with. As it was, I unsubscribed from a substantial number of RSS feeds to cut down on the amount of time I spent screwing around online.

I did, however, abide by the NaNoWriMo rules:

1) I started a new story from word one, not using any previously written material.

2) I wrote every single day. Sometimes I only made a couple hundred words, but I never skipped.

3) I reached the NaNoWriMo target goal of 50,000 words in the month. In fact, when I stopped typing forty-five minutes ago, I was at 52,515 words.

The story is not complete. I feel like I'm at about the halfway point, or a bit past it. I'll keep going, possibly not at the same exhausting pace, but hopefully at a faster pace than was my habit prior to this month, until I reach the end. It normally takes me three to five years to finish the first draft of a novel, so I feel nothing short of stupefied when I look at how much I've generated in these thirty days.

My perception of what I am capable of has shifted.

It's good to challenge oneself on occasion.

Congratulations also to any of you who tackled NaNoWriMo and met your personal goal.