Well, I accomplished my goal yesterday.   I finished something I had never undertaken before, a novel.  At 50,000 words it’s probably more like a novella, but it’s the basis of something good. I do know that.

Also not just hit the goal, but passed with at least a 200 word cushion.   It’ll need work, but I’m happy with the way the draft turned out.  I’ll let it sit a bit & then work on rewriting/revising probably in January.

All of this free-writing I accomplished in 28 days,  no plotting or planning ahead of time. I found out a day or two before the challenge & did everything completely on my feet, which is a huge change for me. (Although I will say, having done improv for a few years does help make things like this seem way less daunting.)

I’m glad I undertook this challenge.  Doing things out of my comfort zone from time to time is important.  I also had quite a bit of support along the way with this both online & off, that that was a tremendous help & motivation.

Even in spite of what I was going through, I still make attempts within my ability to live outside of what’s going on with me illness wise.   I really feel, at least to me, that I still need to do that in whatever ways I can.

My transplant journey is at times overwhelming. It’s nice to be able to create something & still have an outlet & escape.   It was fun,  only had two days that maybe I thought, I’m not so sure about this…yet I found ways around that & kept going.

I was even thinking of what my next project was going to be.   Maybe a collection of short stories,  maybe something else, who knows.  But a productive wait time will be a less stressful one & a hopefully productive one.

For all my friends who encouraged me along the way & believed in me, thanks.  To all my new NanoWrimoFriends & my ML (municipal liaison – a local group leader) who helped me feel welcome & brought me out of my shell,  thank you.  To all my blogger buddies & friends who buddied with me, your encouragement, check-ins, personal blog posts of ups & downs, as well as your friendly pushes helped.  To those friends I passed my first 25K draft to who had constructive suggestions, thanks. I needed to know from a few others that this was not a big snoozefest.  I was at least proven right on that score.

For others who have sent messages of encouragement & offers of assistance, awesome!   Though it’s not my strong suit, I may just cash in some of those favors later because I know they come from a genuine place.

What a great feeling! In 28 days, in a holiday month.  Not a bad showing for a rookie.