Post-NaNo

YES! It may have taken 12k on the final day, I may have just squeaked by at 11 pm, and I may not be entirely done the story (even after using two NaNo's to write it...shh), but I did it! As you can clearly see from my little stats bar on the right, I (somehow) managed to pull through with a grand total of 50,568 words, thus winning my second year in a row.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

The thing I love most about NaNoWriMo is that it's almost like a school year. At the beginning, you're inspired and motivated. You sit down every day and you write those 1,667 words like nobody's business because gosh darn it, this year will be different! But then, as the month goes on, you fall out of the groove a little bit. Those 1,667 daily words turn into 1,600, then 1,000, then less and less until you're lucky if you get any words down at all.

The end of the month is the best--or the best, depending on how you look at it. The clock is ticking and there's all this pressure and while you're not necessarily scared of failing you just don't want to because you committed to this, gosh darn it, and if you don't follow through you will never live it down. Be the circumstances good or bad, though, some people--myself included--against all odds, manage to pull through and write thousands of words in a day.

I think I can safely say that November 30th will always be my most productive writing day.

The only problem is that after all is said and done, I'm left feeling exhausted. Say what you will, but writing 50,000 words in a month is hard--especially when over 1/5 of it is written on the final day. (I never was too good at pacing myself.) The post-NaNo period is always spent by me doing nothing except playing Sims. (And catching up on all of the TV shows I missed during November.) Seems pretty counter-productive, when you think about it; spending such a long period of time working hard, then spending a couple weeks doing nothing.

But you know what? I think I deserve it. As do all of you other wrimos; whether you wrote 50,000, or only managed 100, consider yourself a winner. You dedicated a month to writing; now dedicate three hours to playing Sims.


Until later,

- Justyne