Crossing the Finish Line

It's December!

Which means NaNoWriMo is officially over - and I have the first 9 days of December to finish the novel (due to my 10 day late start in November).

I put in an amazing 17,000 words during the 36 hours comprising Nov 30 - Dec 1. Those hours were very exciting - I was riddled with a cold that all the zinc in the world could no longer fend off, I was sleep-deprived from a snoring boyfriend (whom I banned from the bedroom on the eve of the 30th) and my near legally-blind eyes were putting a misty white haze over the computer screen that I had no wipers for.

I crossed the international finish line with over 38k words but when the digital clock rolled over I didn't stop writing. By that point it became less about getting the word count and more about telling the story. Now that I was rolling through the climax the novel had its own momentum and couldn't be stopped.

These characters have become so dear to me. Characters I didn't like in the beginning have evolved into humans that I am proud of. It feels like being a mother or a benevolent, uninvolved god - I gave birth to these characters and then let them go to do as they please. And they sure made a mess of things. They got into so much trouble and caused each other so much pain, but I could not step in to stop them. I could only watch and witness and lovingly scribe for them as their lives fell apart and they could do nothing else but comfort each other. And now that I am heading into the twilight of the story, I know that they are going to be okay.

I am currently at 42,887 words. Because the official NaNo site is closed, I will be updating my word count here.

I am so close to becoming a novelist at long last. See you on the other side.