Sunday, November 20, 2005

Made it to 50K!

That's right--in 20 days, I wrote 52,315 words of my NanoWrimo novel, "To Catch a Cheat." To say that I am geeked is an understatement. I was determined to at least break the 50k mark in the last two days. I had about 6,000 words to write between Saturday and today. I wrote about 8,000 words!

Now that I have at least gotten to the 50k mark, I can breathe a sigh of relief. I began with a big goal, and have finished the first major hurdle...writing that much in a day shy of three weeks. Now comes the second hurdle. I have three or four more chapters to write before the book is DONE. I will use the next ten days to do that...and then it's editing city!

Thing is, I once wrote a 350 page novel in less than a month. It was also, in my opinion, one of the best things I've ever written. The thing is I was in a quieter time then. It was summer vacation. I wasn't working. I was home with my mom and sibs. I had nothing TO do but write and have some fun.

With this, I am a full-time teacher, a mother (though I have no kids), a sister, an administrator, a friend, a problem solver, a magazine editor, and the list goes on and on. Every day there were five or eight things I HAD to do, and somehow, I would get it ALL done and do my 2,000 words a day. That is what makes this so special to me.

Thing to remember is you don't HAVE to wait for a NanoWrimo to start a writing dream today...or any dream for that matter. It only takes a goal, commitment to reach that goal, and a DEADLINE. Oh, and having people bug you for new pages or for progress doesn't hurt either!

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