I want to say that, I, like many other people I'm sure, never finished my NaNoWriMo novel.
But you know what? I still feel like a winner. Right before I went to bed last night, I hit 25k, half of our goal. I thought, wow, I only got half a novel written. On the other hand, that's half of a novel more than I've ever written before in my life. I haven't written anything for fun since the summer before high school, and now I'm a sophomore in college. I've run what I've written by a few of my friends, and they love it, the story, the world, the characters, my friend who writes professionally thinks it has some real potential.
So I've decided to keep going with it. Just because you didn't meet your deadline is no reason to let the creativity taper off and the characters die. I'm going to reactivate my Elfwood or fictionpress accounts, and see this through, because I've rediscovered a passion I had long given up on. I encourage all of you to do the same.
It was explained to me that the true purpose of NaNoWriMo is to get people back into the habit of writing for fun. I say as long as to got the creative juices flowing, you're a winner!
You just didn't finish fast enough to get the gold medal.
I'm going to finish and polish this in time to try to do a sequal in 2008.
Good luck next year everyone, I'll be right there with you.
----------
How many people does it take to screw in a proliterian light bulb?
None! It contains the seeds of its own revolution!
60,054 / 50,000
Dic 1, 2007 - 12 51
NaNoWriMO is a SELF challenge.
And if you challenged yourself? YOU WIN. The certificate and such are just excellent prizes to make your 50k in a month "official", but the real prize is your manuscript, and the sense of accomplishment.
And you're absolutely right. You've gotten started... now keep up your momentum!
----------Heather
Forums Moderator
41,048 / 50,000
Dic 1, 2007 - 12 55
I hear you, jandro. This year, I have had two concerts rehearsing through the month (one of which performs tonight), my spouse finally getting a job after two months of being unemployed, homeschooling my ten year old, and all the regular insanity of Turkey day to contend with. I also chose to go with a totally new format this time, a retrospective of my own high school days, rather than build on storylines like I've done the last few years. I didn't get to the bar line this year, but dern it, I still managed to get over 40K despite the insanity that is my life right now.
Winner is as winner sees.
---------------
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
2004 - Leena's Tale (30K)
2005 - 50K or Bust! (50K winner!)
2006 - Circling the Glen (50K winner!)
2007 - What Now?
25,040 / 50,000
Dic 1, 2007 - 16 15
I started halfway through the month, so my goal was to get at least 25k, and I did.
I knew I wouldn't have the time to write 50k that late in the month. I'm still a sophomore in high school, with two honors courses and an AP class. And I had exams right before Thanksgiving. :-(
I'm with you. Even though I didn't get to 50k, I feel so accomplished. I see Nanowrimo as a creative springboard. Ideas were flowing like never before, all because of the rush of trying to get 50k. It powered my want to write again.
To a lot of people, trying to write 50k in one month seems like an impossible task, but it doesn't matter. I would suggest this to anyone who will listen (I even suggested this to my English teacher as a month long exam...he actually wants to try it out next year) because it is such a great experience. Writing makes the world go round, after all.
Everyone who didn't finish, don't give up and keep writing! Finish what you started and strive to beat what you came in at next year!
----------NaNoWriMo07- 25040 words
NaNoWriDay08- 25020 words
50,472 / 50,000
Dic 2, 2007 - 04 14
And if you challenged yourself? YOU WIN. The certificate and such are just excellent prizes to make your 50k in a month "official", but the real prize is your manuscript, and the sense of accomplishment.
And you're absolutely right. You've gotten started... now keep up your momentum!
Precisely!
If you wrote more during NaNoWriMo than you would have without it, then you won, regardless of actual word count. If you learned something about yourself, including as a writer, then you've won. If you've rediscovered creativity, regardless of form, then you've won. If you got something positive out of this, you won.
----------________________________________
Laurie, ML for Sri Lanka, Asia: Elsewhere
Why, yes, I am crazy. Why do you ask?
________________________________
Laurie, ML for Sri Lanka, Asia: Elsewhere
Why, yes, I am crazy. Why do you ask?
30,693 / 50,000
Dic 2, 2007 - 12 43
I feel like a winner too despite not reaching 50K. My laptop died on me 3 weeks in, but I still managed to post another 5000 words that last week around friends visiting and having to get all my Christmas shopping done.
And I'm still working.
Yay for me for not giving up.
----------wordcount widgets
20,212 / 50,000
Dic 2, 2007 - 19 52
I've never reached 50k in the five years I've been doing it, but I've won everytime.
Why?
Because I knew in the beginning that throwing the 50k at myself would be a way to failure. So I've made my own goals to reach instead. This year's was 20,000 words, 3k more than last year. And despite all the fears I had that I'd never make it, I kept trying. My story STILL doesn't have an actual plot, something that's never happened to me and why I was so worried, but I struggled through and got to the goal after all. So I won. ^^
But next year, I'm going to just FINISH something I have instead. That would be a far more insane goal for me than any word count. ^^
22,708 / 50,000
Dic 2, 2007 - 22 56
Thats cool (points to post above) great goals to set yourself. I'm a newbie, so i didnt really set myself any goals or anything, but'll i will plan nxt year and hope to WIN! congrats to everyone, you all did amazing
----------Computers are run by tiny gnomes. They do all the work sat at tiny desks inside your PC. When you turn it off they can all go home and have a rest before they are needed again. The screen is in fact an arrangement of gnomes wearing different colour hats.
4,032 / 50,000
Dic 4, 2007 - 21 59
Even though I didn't even reach 5k I am proud, in the two years that I have been writing I have never been able to shoot out so many words in 30 days.
----------51,071 / 50,000
Dic 5, 2007 - 00 43
This is a random comment... but if I got to like 49,999 words and my computer died or something... I think I'd burst into tears, lol. That would be horrible.
----------NaNo 2006 = Cloudburst = 14k
NaNo 2007 = Redeeming Pandora's Curse - WINNER
NaNo 2008 = The Elemental Chronicles: Earth
My Writing Blog: Illuminated Words
37,220 / 50,000
Dic 5, 2007 - 15 11
When my wife went into the hospital just before Thanksgiving, stayed for 3 days, bedrest for two, and needed most of my attention in that time, I knew that, with 20K to go, I wasn't going to hit the word count goal. So I adjusted my goal - finish it, no matter what.
At 45 minutes to midnight, I did just that. I got in every aspect of the story I wanted to, made all my characters three-dimensional enough so that when I killed one off I got a little misty-eyed, and hit that feeling of accomplishment I was hoping to have come December.
So yeah, I won. :)
----------If it ain't fun, it ain't worth doing!
29,256 / 50,000
Dic 5, 2007 - 18 06
This topic is far 'deeper' than I anticipated.
Well, I can really feel the happiness and accomplishment flowing from this thread, and it's really nice to know I don't feel alone about this. I guess I could have done better to try to reach 50k, but I think it's still good practice to try to write all this much so fast, it really pushed me to actually get this story down on paper.
Before heard of NaNoWriMo, I don't think I would have gotten this story down on paper, but now that I've started, I don't think I can stop, and it's great!
So we didn't get to the goal, but in the words of a proverb, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
This is but the first step on a novelist's road.
Wow, that was corny. High-five!
46,673 / 50,000
Dic 5, 2007 - 21 01
I feel like I've won a million bucks, seriously. :) I've been a "writer" for (whoa...) almost 10 years, and this is the farthest I've EVER gotten on any project, novel or not. And ya know? Not to toot my own horn, but I didn't do half-bad considering everythign I had to do at the same time as NaNo, including keep up with my first semester of college work (I'm a freshman).
Needless to say, I'm happy! And I've got big plans for this piece too, especially after I finish the end of it (probably somewhere around 60k or so). Go, under-50k-ers!!!! :D
----------"Writing is easy; all you have to do is stare at a blank piece of paper until blood starts forming on your forehead." ~ Gene Fowler