It’s official. I am a novelist. A little before midnight on Sunday evening, I had my word count validated on my novel at 50,152 words and a bright purple bar flashed on the screen saying I am a “winner”! Wahoo!!!
So now that I’ve written my first novel (or at least the beginning of it), what’s next? I experienced the funniest feeling after passing that 50,000 word mark. An inner tingling joy filled my entire being for about 3 seconds, and then…nothing. As a born Achiever (according to StrengthsFinder, which I highly recommend), this is not a new feeling for me. I strive and strive for newer, bigger, higher, more challenging goals day after day, year after year, and then what? I achieve them, and move on. But isn’t there more to life than this incredibly temporary and elusive sense of satisfaction?
So I’ve started my novel, and I have to say the flow of ideas is incredible. The power of letting go of outlining or planning or obsessive researching, and just plain writing is unbelievable. The characters are taking me places I never could have imagined. I’ve read that each writer’s process is different, and that some work best with outlines and others work best just going for it. I just never expected I would be a “go for it” writer. But with NaNoWriMo, that’s my only option (unless I want to spend every waking hour of my life this month on my novel, which just isn’t practical since I’m also raising a 2-year-old and running a business).
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