NaNoWriMo Wrap Up

December is upon us, which means National Novel Writing Month (aka "November") has come and gone and I am a

LOSER!

Yes, I crashed and burned when it came to making the NaNoWriMo goal of producing 50,000 words in 30 days. I finished up with a sluggish 19,433 words - not even halfway home. Still, I'm reasonably pleased with my performance during the month, because:

1. I had fun.
2. I actually wrote something - I've had it in my head to try and write stuff for years, but only now got off my ass and did something. The best I've managed before - a short story - was a whopping 4835 words.
   
3. I had fun.
4. I discovered that I can produce something novel-like by making consistent small steps on a regular basis.
5. I had fun.
6. I discovered that a lot of the questions/roadblocks I'd perceived before that kept me from doing something - how do I know what comes next? what kind of characters does this story need? I need X to happen - how do I write it? - can be worked out just by writing and pushing through them.
7. Did I mention that I had fun?

The bottom line is - I can do this, it'll just take me a while. Which is why I knocked out another little hunk today. And plan to tomorrow and tomorrow . . .