Sunday Reflections: My NaNoWriMo Month

It’s official: I just validated my word count and am now a 2015 NaNoWriMo winner.

And you know what? It was hard. Especially this time of year, when the holidays are ramping up and my kids were getting sick and my work schedule got all wonky. But I did it. And after validating my novel, I realized that one of the teens in our library’s shared NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program classroom had validated hers earlier today, and a second is only about 1,500 words away from being done too.

So now I’m wiped out and I’ve got a list of projects to start and catch up on that’s about as long as my arm, but I’m proud of setting the goal and sticking to it all month long. I got in the habit of writing, of carving out that time–tired though I might have been–to work for a little while each day on it. I’m hoping to carry this over into other projects I have too: other craft projects, home improvement projects, spending time with friends, or just sitting alone in my room reading a book. It sometimes felt selfish, or frustrating, or fruitless to be spending so much time working on a largely self-serving project, but you know what? Everyone survived. The house isn’t any messier than it was on October 31st (well, maybe it is a little), the kids are no less engaged, and I found that taking the time (not finding the time; you have to take it) to work on my own project is an ok thing to do.It’s ok to take that kind of time for ourselves. More than that, it’s worthwhile, even if it never goes anywhere.

There’s more to say about NaNoWriMo, but I’ll be honest, folks: I’m done writing for the day. It’s time to take a break and celebrate (and let’s be honest: do laundry and play catch up on that stuff that I set aside and need to get back to now).

Good luck to all you WriMos burning the midnight oil to get your count in (the @NaNoWordSprints feed helped me immensely!) and to anyone who didn’t do it this year, or thought about it but postponed, or who started it but didn’t continue, I hope next year is your year!

Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Sunday Reflections, Work Life Balance