Now that I’ve had a night of pure mental vegetation and at least a few hours sleep after National Novel Writing Month, the shell-shock has set in. I know you’re probably tired of reading about the whole thing, but I’m really surprised I managed to stick to it. At times it felt like every possible obstacle to the 50k mark had presented itself: losing my first two days’ work, my hands turning swollen and painful, even the six days off surrounding our trip to Minnesota over Thanksgiving.

And, frankly, I wanted to quit repeatedly but you didn’t let me. Thank you.

I figured once NaNo was over I’d set aside the unfinished manuscript for a couple of weeks, refusing to even think about the thing, much less work on it. But this morning, I woke up before the alarm clock and found myself reluctant to leave my warm bed. So my brain started wandering, and the next thing I knew I was plotting out the next couple of scenes, mentally revising some of the back storyline (condensing one character into two) and debating whether to change from first- to third-person.

Ten minutes later I was at my desk sucking down coffee and jotting down notes. Having learned how during NaNo, I’m now intent on incorporating at least one writing session into my normal routine. I doubt I’ll ever have the intensity or opportunity to spend entire days writing as I did this past month (well, at least not until next year’s NaNo), but it’s nice to discover I wasn’t only in it for the competition.

I just may be a novelist when I grow up after all!

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