One funny part of the NaNoWriMo experience that I have not talked about is the strange post-victory numbness that sets in as soon as your word count begins with “5” and is backed up by four other numbers.
This year, I finished on November 30th at 5:20 a.m. – with a nice, comfortable 17 hours and 40 minutes to spare.
Am I celebrating? Jumping for joy? Nodding at myself in deep personal self-satisfaction in slow motion? (Slow motion makes everything more meaningful – just ask the guys who make pharmaceutical commercials.)
Nope. No rocking out loud. No patting on backs.
Am I happy? Sure. Somewhere in my sleep-deprived, caffeine-riddled brain I’m ecstatic. Yay, me!
But all I can think about in this moment (other than how absolutely enticing my bed is looking right now) is how I now have to not only finish this blasted novel, but also edit the damned thing. After spending more time with these characters than I have with many of my blood relatives, I must confess that the urge to run over my protagonist with a bus is growing on me.
I will, of course, resist the temptation. Probably.
The truth is, I am an over-sharer. There is no way I can go through an intense experience like NaNoWriMo without spouting off about 1) my feelings, 2) my characters, 3) my plot, and 4) my feelings about my characters and plot. The end result is that I now have a group of fellow-writers and friends who genuinely want to know how the thing is going to end.
I’m a little curious myself.
So I will put on my big-girl pants and continue to tackle this monster. I will finish. I will edit. I may even decide it’s worth publishing. After all, I’ve got nothing better to do with all this newly-discovered free time.
Well… until November 1, 2012, at least.
First on my agenda, however, is something I doubtless have in common with a large number of fellow WriMos.
Sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
1 comment:
Agreed, approved and all...
*raise hand at "fellow-writer" Me!! Me!! I wanna read it!! Me Me Me!!!
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