NaNoWriMo Out Of My Mind-o!

I did it!

I did it!

Toss the confetti! Preheat the oven and pop in some brownies!

I completed 50.000 words!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Making Time, my first ever NaNoWriMo project.

That image sums it up pretty well--it's a NaNoWriMo mess.

On a side note, can anyone guess who the main characters are? *giggle, giggle, snort*

Now that I reached the target word count and can stumble away to bed without a care in the world, I'd like to briefly reflect on what these two weeks have meant to me.

For one, I discovered a side of me I didn't know existed: the reckless writer. Doing NaNoWriMo forced me to stop going back and obsessing over what I'd already written.

One of the best pieces of advice is, without a doubt, don't look back. Okay, let's clarify what that means: look back on what you already wrote if you need a reminder or a little kick in the brain to jumpstart your writing--but don't for the love of holy Saint Google start editing and worrying over the quality of your work! You'll have time for that later during the official Christmas cringe-fest!

Another thing I learned is to keep going despite the adversities. A scene got you down? Don't throw it out! Just write another version of it and pump up your word count! Plot getting too out of hand or come to a halt? Take a deep breath and switch your tactic. In my case, I always resort to pen and paper when I need to outline a plot section. Just the simple change from a computer screen to a blank sheet of paper and a fine ballpoint pen calms me down and gets the ideas flowing again. Plus, we usually go slower when writing longhand, thus giving ourselves more time to think.

Finally, I'd like to make a toast for all the wonderful people participating in NaNoWriMo this year! This goes to you, peeps of the Critique Circle Progress Report thread! And of course to all of you on the Twitter NaNoWriMo hashtag!

What's in store for me now? SLEEP. The editing and the fleshing out and the writing of the missing scenes can wait a day or two. ;-)

Good luck, everybody! How are you holding up? Has anyone else reached their goal? Any advice or experiences you'd like to share?