Thank You, NaNoWriMo

Hello, writers!  As I’m sure you know, today is the first day of December.  Another NaNoWriMo is here and gone.

To wrap up this year’s November, I thought it would be appropriate to write an open letter to the entity that is NaNoWriMo.  (Okay, it’s more like a thank you note.  It’ll be fun, I promise.)

Dear NaNoWriMo,

Thank you for the yearly challenge to try something crazy.  Your dare is irresistible, and your community is so welcoming that I can never say no.

Thank you for helping me expand my mug and T-shirt collections.

Thank you for a third year running, and a “lifetime wordcount” (from three novembers) of over 95,000 words.

Thank you for connecting me to a couple writers in my area and many many writers online.  For building a community of support and friendly competition and cheering each other on.

Thank you for reminding me that I can fit writing in my busy everyday life.  And also for letting me have space to focus on homework when I needed to.

I may not have hit 50,000 words this year.  (That was so 2015.)  But I did make friends, and cheer people on, and introduce myself to a new story, and meet unexpected characters, and have a blast writing and planning and being a writer.

I’ll win again some other year, but for now, I have a novel to finish writing.  And another one I want to get back to editing.  I’ll see you next year.

 

// alright, lovely writers.  I’m off to take a nap for about four years.  I’m a bit exhausted from a million papers and 25,000 words.  I’ll see you next week. //