Everybody breathe. We're coming up on it, that last day of November and the end of NaNoWriMo. One of the best lessons I have learned from "NaNo" is how to appreciate my own efforts. I've done this thing for seven years? eight? I think. My official page says, hold on, four times. I know I participated under another Login in the first few years. I have the pages to prove it.
All those experiences have been valuable, though technically I've only 'completed' two projects. One of my Mother-in-Law's favorite expressions is "When you don't get what you want, you get experience."
Pardon me while I wax a little philosophical. Life is made of experiences - not exclusively of successes. Sometimes people forget that and buy into the fiction that if you aren't a 'winner' then you are by definition a 'loser'. They see life as if it was some zero-sum-gain type of exercise.
I have learned through NaNo to recognize the progress of my efforts, even when they don't bring me accolades. Sure success is nice, but by nature, it tends to be fleeting. So take a moment on November 30 to revel in your efforts. Don't spend a moment telling yourself it wasn't enough, or it isn't finished, or you should have done better. You did. You tried. That's the point.
Photo from Pixabay: geralt
It's my last day, too, and as usual, I'm sliding in sideways. I'm going to finish today, no matter what, and if I don't get to 50K? Well, I still have almost 50K words written of a novel. I'm not foolish enough to think (like I did last year) that the end of Nano is the end of the project. It won't be. Like last year's attempt, this draft is horribly drafty, improperly formed. As I like to say, "I need 50K words. They don't need to be good words, or in the right order." That's what months of rewriting, building and editing are for...after I put it to bed until January 2nd.
But what a ride!*
*My husband hates NaNoWriMo, but I hate Movember (or at least what it does to his upper lip), so it evens out. :)