NaNoWriMo Success in 2006

I hit 50,000 (and some) words, and I am done.

Much can be said about National Novel Writing Month, both that it is a futile waste of words that would better be spent writing articles worthy of submission to snooty and inbred publications that can be found in the local supermarkets (those bastions of culture) and also that it is a phenomenal device that allows participants the freedom to use a keyboard to follow their dreams down pathways they never before expected.

For me, it has been a release of random creative activity. Before 2001, I had no idea that I could actually write for any kind of entertainment. Before November of 2006, I had forgotten what writing for fun was really like.

The story that I have written this year is largely built upon word count. Yet I found myself discovering things about my characters that I didn't know before, and saw in my writing a reflection of the frustrations and issues that I encounter in real life.

It's been a grand effort, and I've loved it, even during the first ten days when typing two thousand words a day seemed like bloodletting or having a tooth filled.

And nothing, nothing can compare with seeing the word counter pass 46k and knowing that the end is so near, and so very obtainable.

50k Any Way.

Thank you, Chris Baty.