Sarah O'Connor

It’s the beginning of December and that means that another NaNoWriMo has come and gone! This year was a successful NaNo (am I the only one who shortens it to NaNo? I know that NaNoWriMo is already abbreviated but I keep abbreviating it further… Oh well!) for a number of reasons, the first being that I reached 50,000 words just after midnight on November 28th making NaNoWriMo 2019 the first year I finished early. Even if it was only by a few days I’m happy with it because I’ve never finished NaNo early. I’m usually just scraping the last 1667 words needed before midnight on November 30th to reach the 50,000 word goal and never look at the story again.

The other reason this has been a successful NaNo is that I kept writing after reaching the 50,000 words making my final word count 53,268, the largest story I’ve ever written so far and one that I’m going to continue to grow. Because my story still isn’t done, and I’m not ready to stop writing it yet.

This is weird and scary for me because I’ve never written anything this long and I know it isn’t perfect. I know that there are gaps in continuity errors. I know that a lot of it is flat and so much more depth needs to be pumped into it. I know all this but I’m not stopping. This is the first time I’ve wanted to finish something, see the end product and make it something I’m really proud of (at least a first for a long story, I’ve done this with short stories before).

I know where I want the story to go, how it will end. I’m hoping I can finish it by the end of December and then leave it for a month (a la Stephen King) and go back to it and actually work on it. I’m already planning on how I will edit it, which parts I will tear apart and add too, and how I might be able to turn it into something whole.

I plan a lot more for what I will do with a story once it’s completed than when I’m actually writing.

So it’s an interesting situation, to be done NaNo but to not really be done. To have won the race but still be running the marathon.

I’m not used to this feeling, to this knowing that I’m not finished but that I need to be, that I will be at some point. I’m excited about where December will take me, if the story will continue the progression it has in my head or if it will change in ways I can’t see or predict yet. It’s an adventure all its own even though it’s taking place in a notebook and laptop on my desk, but I’m ready for it. I’m ready for what happens next.