As I mentioned last week, when I started November I had three goals:

• hit 50K
• hit 75K (stretch goal)
• finish the plot (by skipping ahead if need be).

I hit 50K on the 22nd, and on the 30th I crossed both the 75K mark AND finished to the end of my plot notes. Not gonna downplay it, it required like 6+ hours of writing for 3 days straight and I think my brain was dribbling out my ears by Friday night. (Something disturbed my brainpan, anyway, because I woke up Sunday morning with a migraine and spent the day in bed with a pillow over my head.)

BUT I DID IT!!

And hitting 75K on Day 30 felt like way more of an achievement than hitting 50K on Day 22 did. Maybe because I went into this month knowing that I had more than enough plot to hit 50,000 words and thanks to the novella in October, felt primed and warmed up and already in my stride.

Part of the reason I keep a blog is to remind myself of how far I’ve come. It’s so easy in the day to day submission-rejection grind to forget that last year I only submitted 16 times. Total. (Current subs as of writing: 153.) It’s also easy for me to forget that back during my first NaNo in 2010 I didn’t know if I even COULD write a novel in a month, let alone write 100,000 words in 6 weeks.

Sometimes I pretend to myself that life is like an RPG. If I wear this outfit I get a confidence boost! I need caffeine potions to complete this task! Ahhhh, low HP, need to check into a tavern and replenish! (aka weekend naps). It’s fun and goofy and helps pass the time when tasks are boring and relieves some of my anxiety. But even while I do this I forget to think about all the XP I’m accruing from grinding submissions or writing drafts or editing manuscripts.

Sometimes I need to remind myself, yeah: I’m levelling up.

TOMORROW is #PitMad!! Blackout Odyssey is heading out into the world!! *sniff* my weird-ass little baby is all grown up… Check back here on Friday for a review of the process, any developments, and to find out whether I will once again forget to leave off crucial hashtags. (Note: I do not intend to do this, even for comedy reasons.)