Women in Comfortable Shoes

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12/01/2003: "A Novel Conclusion"

She did it.

By god, she did it. I'm so proud I could just about bust. My significant other passed the 50,000-word mark for NaNoWriMo with five days to spare. She's a winner! (And she's going to hate that I told you, but I can't help it.)

She's always been a winner in my book. From the first time I met her (OK, the second, but that's a long story), I knew her to be an extremely witty young woman. I fell in love with her and persuaded her that I was the girl of her dreams. After 13 years, I'm probably the girl of her nightmares by now, but hey, we're still together and I still love her. A lot.

About mid-October, I sent her the link to NaNo and mentioned that it might be a good thing to do. Both of us have been wanting to write more, but, at least in my case, haven't sat butt in front of a non-work-related keyboard long enough and awake enough to pound out the words. She latched onto the idea like an alligator on a honeypot. (Nonrelatives please replace "alligator" with "bear." My honey will get the reference.)

We both started strong. I gave in to deadlines at work and petered out long about 3,500 words. She kept going. And going. I tried to support her by being quiet around the house, trying not to talk too much (that was hard), and keeping the pets out of her hair. After many sleepless nights and writing every minute she wasn't at work and despite weekends filled with visiting relatives or visits to relatives, she finished right before Thanksgiving. We both were thankful, for different reasons.

It doesn't matter whether the book ever gets published. Just the fact that she accomplished such a monster of a goal is enough to crow about, in my opinion.

When I heard about Holidailies, I decided to try again. I figure if she can pop out 50,000 words in 25 days, I can do 50 words per day for 20 days (or more, if the mood strikes), no sweat. That way, I can be a winner, too.

Wait. I already am a winner. I love and live with a novelist.