NaNoWriMo Update: In Which I Totally Kick Ass.

I win! My winning word count, as verified by the word-counting gnomes at NaNoWriMo headquarters in Oakland, California is 50,073.  Here it is in bar graph form:

Breezeway Blows Town, Day 28:

50073 / 50000 words. 100% done!

So, to be clear: Me. Winner.  I have already performed the butt-shaking victory dance for the children, so you know it’s official.

I’m going to get more written tomorrow and Monday before the deadline, so this is not my final total word count, but the pressure is off, and I have more real work to do.  I’m already thinking about my goals for December, with the ultimate goal of finishing the first draft (which I expect to be around 80-90,000 words) by the end of January.  Sometime next week I’ll try to post my thoughts on the whole experience while they’re still fresh, but as my podcasting Canadian writing buddy John Mierau tweeted the other day, the best part of NaNoWriMo has been writing like the professionals do, planting our butts in our seats in front of our keyboards, day in, day out, whether we felt like it or not, and getting the story written.

For now, though, there’s a turkey on the grill and a bottle of good champagne we scored at a silent auction years ago in the fridge.  Not to mention a new batch of cookies fresh out of the oven.