Friday, November 30, 2012

NaNo Update: Day 30






Yup!  I did it!  My WiP has broken 50,000 words, all in the month of November.  And it feels awesome.

Of course, 50K isn't a whole YA novel.  I've got a lot more writing, and then a heck of a lot of editing ahead of me.  (I can't wait!)  But for the moment, I'm going to take a minute to do something else.

See, I have no idea whether this book will ever see the light of day.  If I'm realistic, odds are good that it won't.  But it's already indebted to so many people.

So if you'll indulge me for a minute, I'd like to do a mini-acknowledgments section to celebrate winning NaNo.

Thanks to Mr. S for not minding about all the laundry and dishes that piled up periodically while I was writing.

Thanks to my family/friends/former students and colleagues who acted interested rather than skeptical when I said, "I'm working on a YA novel."

Thanks to my awesome friend Nicole who made me the world's greatest "Last Writing Day" podcast.  It was on when I crossed 50K ("Eye of the Tiger", to be exact--I feel good about that.)

Thanks to Willow, my kitty, for glaring at me when I watched Brotherhood 2.0 videos instead of writing and purred contentedly on my lap when I was thinking about getting up, so I had to keep writing instead.

And of course, thanks to the people I've met through this blog.  So many of you were NaNo Buddies, posted updates of your own, cheered me on, and generally made me feel like part of a community.  If you've left comments here, responded to panicky emails, exchanged tweets with me, shared your own writing, sent tea, or answered weirdly specific medical questions, you know who you are, and I really, really appreciate it.  I've been noodling around with the idea of NaNo since I was a freshman in college (2003!) and I never even came close before.

If you're NaNoing yourself, then good luck getting to your goal by day's end!  If you've already gotten there, CONGRATULATIONS!  And if you spent the month working on something else entirely, I hope it went well.  And if not--well, it's snowing as I type this, I'm curled up under a blanket, and I spent the morning ordering Christmas presents.  December is just about upon us--a whole new month, just waiting for new reading/writing/life goals!  (More on those later.)  For now--Happy November 30th, everyone!

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations on meeting your NaNo goal and I hope your momentum keeps up for the rest of the novel! I'm feeling similarly optimistic about December :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'm feeling good at the moment...I'm sure there will be more ups and downs but this thing is getting written, doggone it!

      Delete
  2. Congrats, Jess! I knew you could do it. :) And we'll definitely keep each other going to finish these stories we've started.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations! Isn't it a terrific feeling to know that you've accomplished something so incredible? And who knows, maybe the seeds of greatness are within this manuscript, even if it doesn't ever see the light of day. You have every reason to be proud of yourself.

    And -- #gobills

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Feeling good about it, whatever happens. Thanks for the encouragement! #gobills!

      Delete
  4. YAY YAY YAY :D Congrats, Jess!!! Can´t wait to see it when you´re ready :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Knowing I have someone to send it to really helped me keep going :)

      Delete
  5. Congratulations! And yay for actually wanting to finish! It's always a good sign when you don't want to shove your draft in a closet somewhere it will never see the light of day so you don't have to look at it again. :)
    -Rachel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Yeah, I went through some slumps, but I don't hate *all* of it. There's some good stuff in there. (Annnnnnd a ton of cruddy stuff. But such is the nature of the first draft!)

      Delete
  6. Congrats on winning!!!! That's really exciting. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Definitely feeling good about it--although today is my first day back to writing after a short break and it's hard to dive back in! I think I'll get the hang of it, though!

      Delete

Thanks for coming by! Please chime in!