I’ll go ahead and say it: I didn’t win NaNoWriMo 23. Am I sad about it? Nope.
During my first NaNoWriMo in 2008, I wanted to win so badly I could taste it. And I did win. I gained a lot of confidence in myself as a writer that year. And, to be honest, if I hadn’t won that first time, I would have been devastated.
I have done NaNoWriMo almost every year since then. I have won about 50% of the time. So, being much older and “wiser,” I know that not reaching 50K for this November writing contest is not the end of the world. I know I can do it, but that first time I needed to win.
And when I see in a NaNoWriMo post on Reddit or some other forum that someone who has never done it before wants to win so badly, I want to encourage them. It’s not the end of the world, butI understand how important it is to win that first time.
Anyway, I didn’t win this year. Why not? I had a great story idea. I had interesting characters. It was going so well the first week. Then, I came down with COVID for the first time ever. For several days, I didn’t feel like doing anything except listen to audiobooks and watch television.
I picked it up again and got caught up. But during the week of Thanksgiving, my family went on vacation together. I flew to Arizona and we all hung out in an Airbnb for five days. It was great. I got caught up with my niece and saw her nearby university, so we all went to Arizona. I brought my computer just in case I had time to write. Still, I slept more than I should have and participated in vacation activities. I only got in one 30-minute writing session. I don’t regret it.
So here’s the deal, in addition to taking the week of vacation off from work, I also have the last week of November off. A rare two-week vacation. When I returned from vacation, I had several days to finish NaNoWriMo successfully.
If I wrote about 4000 words a day.
I pondered if I wanted to win NaNoWriMo that badly. I decided no, it wasn’t. I love my story this year. I love NaNoWriMo. But I knew I would have regretted it if I had spent this final week of November writing all day long—which is what it would have taken me.
This vacation week, or staycation week, I have other plans. I meeting friends I haven’t seen lately at coffee houses. I’m going to visit museums and shops. I’m going to write, and enjoy it. Not learn to hate it.
My conclusion for this year’s NaNoWriMo is this: this year’s project would have made a better Camp NaNoWriMo. In fact, I will continue this story during April and July’s Camps. It’s a great story, in my opinion, so in that respect, NaNoWriMo 23 is a success. Cangi is the name of the story and this year’s contest was more of a testing ground to see how the story fleshed out. So far, so good.
So, I would tell myself back in 2008, during my first NaNoWriMo, that yes, it’s important to win this year. Still, even if I hadn’t, I will win eventually.
And to remember there are different ways of “winning.”
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-brown-leaves-235767/
Andrew M. Friday 
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