November has come and gone leaving us to count our words and tally our word counts. On December first hundreds of writers stepped outside and took their first breaths of fresh air in thirty days. We have sacrificed mornings and nights squirreled away with our notepads and laptops. Our fingers have blazed new trails as they desperately tried to keep pace with our imaginations. With the passing of the 2015 NaNoWriMo we can now breathe a sigh of relief. As we pick up the pieces and recover our lives, a question looms in the background. Now what?
For many November was a time of great success. Others found a great struggle. Still more were disappointed, having not reached the goal. There is only one thing I do not like about NaNoWriMo, and that is calling those who meet the goal winners. If you sat down this month and you put forth your very best effort but came up short you are not a loser that is for sure. Some of you even completed your works but found that they were shy of the ambitious 50,000 word goal. In no way should you feel like you have failed. In a world where most people are content to spend their days watching TV or playing videogames you made a choice to write. The world would be a much brighter place if more made that same choice, the choice to tell our stories.
The other thing I do not like about “Winning” is that it lends itself to a bit of finality. A winner of a gold medal in the Olympics has little do afterwards to keep it. Those of us who passed 50,000 words either as a final word count or as a milestone on the way to their final word count are by no means done with this race. We have started on or finished our very first sketches. There are place names that need to be fixed, there are notes about character development to be addressed but all of that can wait for now. For now savor this time. For many this is the first time they’ve seen their story in tangible form. It is thrilling! However it is also just a first step. You have not written the next great novel, not yet. What you have now is the shadow of what will be. In the months ahead you will be asked to edit and rewrite and whip your novel into tip top shape.
For now though you should relax. Be glad! Be joyful. Be relieved. You have done what so many others have only dreamed about doing. You have taken your imagination captive and dragged it here, into our world, so that others may see it, and read it, and experience it. That is a great accomplishment indeed. So for now we rest, for a long journey still lies ahead of us.