For twenty-nine days in November, I ate, drank, thought and slept writing. And somewhere around 6 PM on November 29, I hit 50,000 words and became a NaNoWriMo winner. I walked around the shopping center where I'd been writing all day at Barnes and Noble and I don't think my feet touched the ground at all.
It was a surreal feeling. I'd actually done it. I'd written 50,000 words. And I had no idea it would feel so damn good. At 50K, the book wasn't finished though. I still have two chapters to write, and once I do that, I will have to edit and polish.
I actually skipped a chapter on that last day. It was an addition to the book during the pre-NaNo organizing days and when I got to that chapter and was still short of 50K, I just skipped it because I knew I would dither my time away and accomplish zip. I knew what happened in the next chapter so I wrote that instead.
On November 30, I just enjoyed the last day of having #2 son home for the holidays and goofed off around the house. On December 1, I came down with some horrendous virus and/or cold and spent the next six days in bed or on the sofa watching countless episodes of Law and Order, a couple movies and some Food Network shows I'd never seen before.
The NaNo gods held off the sickness until I'd hit 50K, or at least I like to believe that. If I'd had a week like last week during November, I'd have never made my goal.
Of course, now I'm back amongst the living, the Christmas shopping is almost complete (anybody know where I can get a Mario Kart Wii with Wheel at a reasonable price?) and I've even started on a few things due in January. But I feel like an absolute slacker because I'm not working on the novel. I didn't feel like it last week, but I have no excuse now, especially after the Playfriends helped me brainstorm the missing chapter over the weekend.
We'd all gone to the NaNo TGIO (Thank God It's Over) party and went by the coffee shop afterwards because we just don't get to spend enough time together. When there was a lull in the conversation I said, "I need some plotting help with my book, and I'm sure that's a question you never thought you'd hear from me." Well, they jumped right in and gave me some great ideas and I believe I have a handle on chapter 10 now. I just need to put on my mystical muse beads, light my special candle, put the creativity CD on with the stereo headphones and write, write, write.
Have you ever gone after something really big and then felt a big letdown after you achieved it?
P.S. Here's a little Playfriend fun. Y'all didn't know we were so talented, did you?
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