That Thing I Do… (Word Count = 50,116)

I’m a few days late…but I am happy to report that I did win National Novel Writing Month this year…with a few hours to spare.  I finished at Panera with many of my writing friends watching.  I tweeted and facebooked my final dash to the finish line.  I had cheers in person and virtually…it felt really, really good.  It was a very different experience this year.  It was the first year where I had to balance my quality time with Gym and manage to consistently write.  It was the first year where I had to be a dedicated sports fan and still manage to write.  It was the first year where I had to balance more than just work.  I think these are all excellent signs that my world really is transforming. 

I switched my workouts to the early morning so that I could write at night.  I spent many a day/night at Panera.  I did pound a few words out while tailgating.  I plotted in the car rides to games, while driving to Virginia Beach, and while walk/running on said beach.  I wrote words while staying with one of my campers and her family…at night after she and her Mom had gone to sleep.  I wrote from the writing cove at the home of two of my NanoWrimo buddies (8K in one sitting).  I wrote from Starbucks while waiting for one of my childhood friends to join me for an always inspirational chat.  To be honest, I don’t know that I wrote much of anything at home.  Instead of clocking thousands of words during a weekend, I would clock thousands of words in a single day (10K, 8K…crazy!!).  It was fun.  Writing is my marathon.  It felt so good to get my fingers moving.  It felt even better to be truly living while writing…that was a first.

In the last hours, I had a personal best.  I wrote 5K words in 2 ½ hours.  At times, I was writing 1K in 20 minutes.  My goal is to write 1K words in 15 minutes…I’m getting closer.  It is good to have something to aim for next year.