Did anyone else feel that deep, collective breath of relief yesterday as NaNoWriMo ended? Washington state is in one of the last time-zones before the date line, so I usually end up finishing my novel with the last of the last. Fortunately, I clocked in at 50,132 around 4pm on the 30th. Home for Thanksgiving still, Mom made me a victory dinner of Turkey Manicotti (it’s capitalized because it’s important. Important and delicious.)

I did pretty good this year, picking a story I knew would run about 50K. I’ve still got maybe 3,000 words to write in order to tie it all together and conclude the final chapter, but that’s a project for a day that I didn’t spend driving to an airport, waiting for a two-hour delayed plane, catching a BART train to San Bruno, taking the BART train from there to Millibrae, getting on the CalTrain, arriving in Palo Alto, bussing to the Stanford Quad, and walking the last bit home. I used to be able to write while I traveled, but these days I get too excited about where I’m going (physically and metaphorically) to focus. Landscapes look so neat in motion. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Gestalt’s Principle. I love to revel in it.

My Post-NaNo winters are always so different. Most of the time, I have an epic story that still has months of work ahead of it to be a fully drafted 100,000 word story. Once I finished on the 25th, 51,000 words and a complete story, but I think that may be my worst book of all, actually! It’s nice to know I only have a tiny bit of work ahead of me that can easily be accomplished before I even head back home for Christmas.

Where do my other NaNoWriMos stand? Did you finish your book or complete the challenge of 50,000? Or do you just have the start of something beautiful? The best thing about NaNoWriMo is that even if speed-writing for an insane month isn’t your thing, at least it gets you kickstarted on what you want to do 🙂