NaNoWriMo Has Come to an End

NaNoWriMo. It all comes to an end on December 1st. All those who succeeded, go to bed three hours early because they don't have 1,000 words to write before they can. Eat carrot sticks like they're candy because they're tired of living off chocolate and cheez-it's, and watch a movie. Just because they have the time.

Those who didn't happen to reach that coveted number of words fall into fits of tragic disappointment, wish they had never been born, then do everything the winner did. Just not with as much joy.

Thankfully, I happened to be in the first group. My final word count for this month was 54,455 words. I expect I'll make it to 60k before the end of the novel.

Some things I knew would happen and did?

• A massive word war with my friend. A fight to the finish. A duel to the death. An epic battle that would go down in history.
• My characters took things into their own hands and informed me they knew best. I listened.
• I fell behind in my Spanish lessons. I'm still working on catching up.
• I wrote about 49,000 words of trash. First drafts are always so much fun to read back over. Not.
• I listened to more Celtic Thunder then I ever thought possible and now have every song memorized. Even the ones in Gaelic.

The things I didn't see coming?

• I came to know my characters more then I had ever known any of my characters before. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I had been waiting to write their story for almost nine months, but I felt like they were living breathing people at times. Crazy.
• I lost before mentioned word war by over 9,000 words. Oh well.
• One of the sweetest characters alive... er... written, died. Rather tragically, but very touching.
• I only fell behind the suggested word count for two days. They weren't even in a row.
• A sequel slowly started developing in my brain, and if I can wait a whole year, will probably be my novel for NaNo next year.
• This first draft turned out far better then last years.
• I reached the 50,000 words before Thanksgiving. Eight days early to be exact.

All in all. It was blast. I'm relieved I don't have 1,667 words to write before going to bed, but I can't wait for next November when the whole thing starts again.