TGIO!

TGIO = Thank God It's Over - NaNo that is! :)

Yes, I finished my NaNo project way earlier than usual and I am relieved.  The story itself isn't finished, not by a long shot, but this writer is done with it for now.  This NaNo manuscript will slip quietly into a drawer, with all its notes and scraps of ideas, and wait quietly, peacefully until I am ready (if ever!) to take it out again, blow off the dust, and see what's what. 

It's not the manuscript's fault.  It's not the characters' fault.  It's not the plot's fault.  It's mine.  I played with a story I wasn't ready to write.  I just dove in and splashed around and made a mess and the end result?  Wasn't pretty.  BUT. 

I learned some things about how I write and about what I like to write.  I learned I can push myself if need be.  I learned I can focus when I have to.  I also learned that when I let myself go, surprising things happen on the page - some good, some ugly.  I wrote some gems of descriptions and some cringe-worthy dialogue.  I wrote and I wrote and I wrote and I found my way back to writing, to that kernel of joy I somehow let get buried beneath rejection and writer's block and the disinterest of others and social networking and the drama of the future of publishing.  

I found it again and, hopefully, this time, I'll never let it go.