That's right.  I won NaNoWriMo, which basically means I churned out 50,000 words in 30 days or less.

If it sounds like I'm not excited about this, trust me, I am!  I just finished my second novel.  Is this real life?  It feels amazing, and I'm so obsessed with this whole project right now.

I just don't see this as "winning" really.  I see it more as reaching a goal-- a goal toward a career that I work very hard for.  Winning implies that this was a game to me.

The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that it gives folks who've always wanted to write a novel a deadline and time frame and reason to sit down and do it.  It's all about creating that daily writing habit. (i.e., myself one year ago)

This year, I already had that habit in place.  My feet were already wet and I knew my way around Scrivener.  So, when I hit that 50k goal in 30 days, it felt so damn good, but not like winning.

Here's where I am winning:  Last year, I found out that I was not the only writer in our little military community.  In fact, there are FOUR of us.  Once realizing this, I set up some meetings through the library, created a Facebook group and wrote up little writer's club meeting agendas.  Throughout the year, we've gotten to know each other, became friends, colleagues, supporters and fans.

So, truth be told, I didn't win NaNoWriMo, at least not on my own.  I had an arsenal of support that pushed me through.  When I wanted to stop, they pushed me.  When I got stuck, they lent an ear and an idea.  When I didn't want to write, they made me sprint it out.

It doesn't matter that not one of us writes in the same genre or who is published or trained or just having fun.  Writers were not meant to do this alone.

Stay tuned this week for a little post about my WIP.  I have to share something about it.  I'm that excited.