Crossing the Finish Line

December 1st - the end of NaNoWriMo. PHEW!

I must say it has been quite the ride. I started this journey nervous about accomplishing the daily word totals. Nervous is an understatement, but it sounds much better than the gut wrenching, sweaty palm sickness I felt each time I actually thought about it.

So... yeah... nervous :)

I set myself the goal and I am more than a little happy to report I DID IT! Yeah! I finished! I won! WOOT! etc etc etc. <insert happy dance here>

Not only did I finish, I managed to do it with time to spare (4 days to be exact) and even kicked in a few extra words...105 extra words! So I'm now an official NaNoWriMo winner, complete with a certificate! You may have noticed my shiny new badge on my blog too.

Look Ma! I did it!

Until NaNo I had completed short stories and a long list of poorly written poems that I dare not share. I even completed a novel about the same length. Except that novel took me two years to finish! Completing my 50,000 words in 26 days has been, by far, the best experience in my writing career. I use the term career loosely since no one has come banging down my door to pay me the big bucks to write...yet ;)

The journey was not without its challenges. I even had a mini breakdown mid-way through the month. Despite being ahead, I felt my writing was utter crap. The language was wrong, the grammar atrocious and don't get me started on all the little writing rules I knew I was breaking - and all the ones I didn't know.

I'd poked the inner critique and that bastard was pissed! He came strutting in nitpicking all my sentences and pointing out the mistakes. He urged me to give up, cut my losses and go watch some mindless TV. Wasn't there some crap show that I just had to watch!? Huh? HUH?

The bastard almost won. I can admit how close a call it was. But I had one trick up my sleeve that he didn't see coming - support. I had friends, family, co-workers and twitter folk that were always there to lend an ear, hand or whatever else I needed in the name of conquering the NaNo beast. I couldn't have asked for a better support system. I feel blessed!

In short I kicked NaNoWriMo's ass this year and I plan on doing again in 2012.

Thanks to all my friends, family and twitter folk for all the love and support. Much Love!