NaNoWriMo Day 30!

It's the end of the challenge! What happens next?

Whether you wrote the full 50,000-words of the original NaNoWriMo challenge or a smaller version in the spirit of the month, whether you got to the words The End or you are still in the murky middle, congratulations! You have made it to day 30 and my greatest wish for you is that you feel a sense of accomplishment and joy as you think about the work you’ve done this month.

As I said way back in October in my original invitation to NaNo, my hope for you is that this November writing challenge—however you chose to interpret it—has ignited or rekindled your love of writing and helped you establish a writing routine that you can carry forward when the challenge is over. What could be better than waking up on December 1 and—instead of saying, “Thank God the challenge is over and I don’t have to write today,”—saying, “Well, time to write, because that is what I do now,” for writing to be so automatic to your day that you don’t even think about not doing it.

Of course we all need a day off from time to time, but there is something in getting a streak going that feels awfully good. If you’ve followed my newsletter for a while, you know I am also a painter. Last year I did a 100-day project, and when the project was over, I just kept going. I think I would up with something like 150 consecutive days of making art. If you keep going to tomorrow, try keeping track of your streak. (There are apps for that, if you need some support). And if you take tomorrow off, rest assured, you’ve earned it.

So, what happens next?

First, celebrate.

Give yourself a round of applause. Buy yourself a celebratory bouquet. Pop open the champagne or dig into that decadent chocolate cake. When we set a hard goal and see it through, it’s important to celebrate ourselves!

Second, reflect.

Take some time to think about the goals you set for yourself and what it took to satisfy the goals. What went well for you this month? What habits and routines do you want to carry forward from November into your regular writing routine? What challenges did you face and what helped you get through them?

Third, start something new!

It may be tempting, if you reached the words “The End,” to rush back to the beginning and start tinkering. Don’t do it. I’ll be sharing posts each Friday of December with revision prompts, so if you’re eager to revise and aren’t sure where to start, stay tuned, but for now, please, put the manuscript down.

Instead, print out your draft if you can, and put it in a folder, and put it away for at least a few weeks, or, better yet, until you’ve finish a first draft of something new.

Something new, seriously? Yes, seriously.

I’ve noticed that beginning writers have a habit of thinking they must write something and publish that thing as quickly as possible in order to know they are writers, and if the one thing they wrote doesn’t get published, they feel like they have failed. They plug away at the one thing doggedly and determinedly, pinning all their hopes on it.

Can you imagine an aspiring songwriter who wrote only one song and spent the next decade trying to sell it? Can you imagine an aspiring painter who made one painting and wondered why galleries weren’t knocking her door?

We novelists need to think like other creatives. You’ve written one manuscript, and that’s an amazing cause for celebration. You’ve shown yourself you can do it, and soon you’ll revise and make it even better, and in the meantime, since you’re a writer, there’s only one thing to do: Write more. Write your next story. Just keep writing.

Personally, I like to have two projects on the go. I write a draft of one, put it aside for a few months while I write something else, and then while that one is maturing in a drawer like fine wine in a cask, magically getting better with age, I return the first project to rewrite and revise.

Is this process fast? Nope. Is it efficient? I think so, insofar as any creative pursuit can be made efficient.

The important thing is that by taking time between drafting and rewriting/revising, I gain distance and clarity about my own work. I can return to it with new eyes and see if as a reader will see it. Writing something new in between writing and revising aids with that distance and lets me have less ego in the mix, because I know that the draft is the one and only thing I am putting all my creative hopes on.

So that’s it. The simple steps to a writing life: Write, celebrate, reflect, repeat.

Show your work!

I’d be so excited if you would chime in the comments to share about your experience of NaNoWriMo. What goals did you set? How did you tackle those goals? How will you celebrate your success, and what will you carry forward?

Stay tuned through December for some revision prompts, and until then, keep writing!