NaNoWriMo 2009 Day 30

[ladyseishou]

Day 30 - it's down to the wire...

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

- Ursula K. LeGuin



And what a journey it has been...

Beginning from the early days of May, we've covered a lot of ground on this journey: challenges and contests, conversations and constructions.

And it all comes down to this: the last day of NaNoWriMo! The word count is 50,000! We have many Nano Writers who have crossed the finish line (congratulations!) and others who are very close... To these members I say: don't give up! Keep writing! But lose the inner critic that keeps whispering in your ear "this is bad" or "you won't make it." No first draft writing is bad and every word counts! And you will never know if you could write that last 3,000 words (more or less) if you don't try!

But...

In the end, it is the journey that matters... the one started on the day we wrote that first sentence about a character who has this problem...

And it's a journey shared... with all our story's characters - characters we've nurtured, abused, loved, fought with tooth and nail, who, in turn, showed us ultimately what it means to be human (and yes, that includes paradoxically all of our non-human characters as well).

And it's a journey shared with each other... all of us! You lurkers too! It is and has been a wonderful, beautiful journey! You are all to be congratulated! Take a bow! Be proud of all that you have accomplished whether you cross that 50K finish line or not.

You are writers!

But this is not the end... coming up over the next several months, we'll talk about the revision process and the next draft. And then sometime after we've put the last finishing touches on this year's novel, we'll talk about how we can prepare for the next NaNoWriMo and then...

We'll keep writing!

Comments

[finch]

Thanks for all the work you've put into this comm, btw. I don't comment often but I appreciate seeing your posts every day.

[ladyseishou]

You're welcome! ^___^

[eien_herrison]

Final word count: 50,015. I admit, it was like pulling teeth with the final couple of k, and I'm semi-disappointed that I got 50k for the whole month when I managed around 25k in the first week.

I do know that I'm going to be re-writing the chapter previous to the one I'm on, and a scene early on in my WriMo; most likely I'm going to declare December a non-writing month, and polish up what I've got.

For next year, I'm definitely going to be plotting well in advance.

I echo finch in thanking you for the work on this community.

[twistingthetale]

Well done!

[eien_herrison]

Thanks :)

You Did It!

[ladyseishou]

It's my pleasure to work with this community! So thanks to you too!

[lassarina]

You can do it, everyone! It's definitely possible!

ladyseishou, thank you so much for your work on this comm and for all the set-up, the daily posts, everything. It was initially a nice reminder to keep hashing out my characters and plot, and then having a "report post" every day really helped keep me on track (because even if my membership in the comm doesn't rely on posting, the guilt-trip works on me... XD)

[ladyseishou]

You're most welcome! It's really a pleasure!

[juliet]

DONE IT! Final word count: 50,372.

The novel's not finished, but I do have a reasonable idea where the holes are. I'm hoping to do some more work on it in December, but I have Yuletide and a friend's ridiculously-cracky Xmas present to finish first.

Thank you so much for doing these daily posts! I've found them really helpful :)

[twistingthetale]

Well done, and enjoy the break!

Wonderful!

[ladyseishou]

Good luck with your Yuletide and Xmas fic! ^___^

[twistingthetale]

A big thank you to ladyseishou from me too, and to everyone in the community. The daily posts were a great way of keeping everything on track, and I think we should all be proud of ourselves and each other - well done team :)

[ladyseishou]

Yes! Well done everyone and you too! ^____^

[altopiano]

Final word count 53810! *amazed*

At the end of every day I've been coming here, not often posting, but always to read and soak up the vibes. A huge thank you and pat on the back to everyone here, and of course, especially ladyseishou, for the endless supply of encouragement, advice and good cheer. *applauds*

[ladyseishou]

That's a fantastic word count! *high five* You should be very proud!

[geminianeyes]

53032.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write up the daily posts and to give encouragement when it's needed. It made me smile and gave me the motivation to keep on writing.

I'd like to nominate ladyseishou to be our DreamWidth ML, but I suppose that's not possible, is it? :P

[ladyseishou]

A fantastic word count! Something that makes me smile! ^____^

[otter_nanowrimo]

Congrats to everyone who won! :D

I haven't written for about ten days and I'm 30,000 words behind, with three and a half hours to go 'till midnight.

I'm okay with this.

I may or may not finish by my self-imposed deadline.

I'm okay with this too. 'Cause you know what? I took a premise I didn't like, characters I knew nothing about, an essentially nonexistent plot, and zero motivation, and I turned it into 20,000 words of, if not something worth reading, then at least something worth turning into something worth reading. And that's 20,000 words I never, ever would have written without NaNo and this community and you, ladyseishou.

Before this, I was seriously doubting my ability as a writer. My identity as a writer was breaking down, and it's so much a part of who I am that it was affecting the rest of my life, too.

So, yeah, I will keep writing. And I'll be back next year and the year after and the year after and even if I don't ever win, I will write.

[ladyseishou]

I'm so happy to hear that you're not going to give up on your story! You have a story to tell! You can do it! You are a writer - never doubt it!

And next year: it will be even better! Because you and me and everyone who participated in this crazy NaNoWriMo thing are just that little bit better and stronger for what we've done this month and for all the writing that we'll do before next November! We're going to keep writing!