It’s not the first time I’ve become a National Novel Writing Month winner, but it’s no less intoxicating! Fifty thousand words in one month is something I can be proud of.
At school, the first trimester ends the first week of November. That means grading final projects, tests, and other work then doing report cards. Parent conferences are held the third week of November, plan twenty minutes for each of thirty parents. Then a week off work for Thanksgiving (yes, this is where I catch up), but I spend a lot of time cooking, cleaning, and being with family. If I can find time during this busy month to write 50,000 words, then surely I can find time to write more regularly all the time.
A lot of people who enjoy writing during NaNoWriMo readily admit that what comes out is junk. I’m actually pretty proud of my novel, Under the Wild and Darkening Sky. It’s definitely a rough draft that will have to be revised, polished, revised again, but the bare bones are there. I have all but three chapters of it completed, and I’m motivated to finish it.
As usual (for five years in a row), my students participated in NaNoWriMo with me. Always before we have come back from Thanksgiving vacation with a day or two still left in November to make sure everyone reaches their word count and validates their novel. As I write this, it’s November 30 at 1:15 in the afternoon and I still have eleven students who have not done this. Some are at 100% and haven’t validated for the win. Some aren’t even at 100% yet. I can email, send NaNo mail, and shout at my computer, but it’s basically out of my hands. I have to trust that they’ll remember! Everyone send mental vibes out to my students: TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!
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