Nearing the end

I will admit, I am feeling pretty good today. I was able to write another 2,000 words last night, so I am now less than 8,000 words away from my goal of 50,000!!! Again, that feels pretty good. I don't want to say that I am confident that I can make it, as I don't want to jinx my luck, but I do like my odds at this point.

I am far from being the best. Some amazing people finish in a few days. Some have over 100,000 words at this point. That is just astounding! The people I really want to write a short passage today are those that come from behind. I've been there, I've been behind. I'm pretty good about keeping close to the goal, though. The writing buddies I've had in the past have pulled off some outstanding last minute rushes to win. With a little over a week away, this is the time when I start to see it happen. This is also the time of the month when the laggers are feeling the most down, and the overachievers work hard to encourage and rejuvenate some life back into them! This is one of the most positive times of the NaNoWriMo event every year, as some have passed the goal line, others see it close at hand, and many that are far from seeing the 50,000 mark find some new energy to make an all out sprint to see if they can make it. I usually say that the beginning is the most exciting part, but that's because I forget about this point in the race.

This is it for me. I will be excited when I cross the 50,000 line, and even more excited when I get my word count validated and download the winner certificate. The thing is, though, I was actually more excited a couple years ago when a writing buddy I met on the NaNoWriMo website made it across that line. I had been encouraging him throughout the month, telling him he could make it, then he made an amazing run at the end to actually get the 50,000 words that month. He thanked me personally in a message, and then created a thread for people to thank those who had helped encourage them that month. In that first post he made sure to thank me. I actually felt better about helping others achieve their goals than I did about my own. I think that is one of the most treasured things I learned about writing from NaNoWriMo, that writing doesn't have to be a solitary adventure. Working together...helping each other, can help make writing a much easier, fun, and rewarding world to be in.