Are you one of the lucky 7%?

Crissi Langwell

12 years ago

Only about 7% of NaNoWriMo participants crossed the finish line with 50,000 or more words this year*. If you were one of the lucky few, you deserve a pat on the back and a million publishers** clamoring to get you to sign with them.

(*Note: According to NaNoWriMo, 300,000 people signed up, and only 41,940 stuck it out till the end.)

(**I wish I could send them your way…)

And if you didn’t cross the finish line, don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not an easy task, and perhaps this year wasn’t your year. But don’t throw in the towel just yet. Look back over your work-in-progress (WIP). Somewhere in that scribbled down text are a few nuggets of gold that deserve expanding on. You can save these nuggets for next year’s NaNo. Or…..you can pick up where you left off NOW, and make yourself a book.

I’d go with the second one, if I were you.

This year, I managed to cross the 50,000 mark on Nov. 22. And at 5 p.m. on Nov. 30, I was able to type the words THE END, making my grand word count total 71,593.

Am I bragging? Heck yes, I’m bragging. As a person who tends to try and stay out of the spotlight when it comes to my own accomplishments, this is one area where I want to shout it out loud. I write more than 70,000 words in 30 days! That’s huge. And if I don’t crow about it, who will?

Needless to say, a novel written that fast is going to be filled with details and scenarios that need a ton of grooming before it can be presented to the public. But all that is going to have to wait. I’m not even going to read what I wrote for a little while, because my focus now is on Forever Thirteen – the book I’m editing that will be published in the spring.

But I’m going to remain in celebration mode for the next several weeks as I come back down from the NaNoWriMo high. And I hope you all will celebrate your feats with me, too. Hope to see the published version of your NaNo novels soon!

P.S. Cyber Monday sales alert! I’ve significantly reduced the price of my poetry book, Everything I Am Not Saying, taking a full 25% off the original price at Amazon.com. To do this, I had to take it off expanded distribution, meaning it’s temporarily not available at other book stores, like Barnes & Noble. But it’s worth it, so I can keep the price as low as it can go. And when I say low, I mean I’m only making $1 off each sale. But I’m doing this for you, because I think this book is something everyone should read, and be able to give as a gift.

There’s more, too. If you type in BOOKDEAL for the promotion code at Amazon, they’ll take off another 30%. And if you purchase a print copy, you can get an eBook for free. That means you can give a book, and keep one for yourself!

So consider supporting a local author and giving the gift of words to someone on your gift list. It’s a great way to spread the love all around. 🙂