Hey everyone! I'm coming to you as an official NaNoWriMo winner!! I reached 50,000 words early afternoon on November 30th, sighed in relief, then promptly saved, verified, and closed the document. For a while, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not. I pushed through to the last day and ended up making it. My novel writing process is far from over, but reaching 50,000 words has given me an amazing boost. I've never gotten this far in a book I wrote by myself.

If you're reading this and you made it: Congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment! Your novel is 50,000 words closer to the end. Your story has been at least ¾ of the way written. Good job! I can relate to how hard it was. I had my hands full the entire month and stressed just a little towards the end. Take a break guys, then jump right back into writing!

.If you didn't make it to 50k, congrats on writing anything! Tbh, nobody really cares either way, except for other NaNo writers, and possibly readers patiently awaiting more to read from you. There's always next time, and your next step is the same as everyone else's: Keep writing. We may have finished one project (or come close to the end), but that doesn't mean that we're done writing. The cycle continues. You've got to write!

In the past few days, I have realized just how much I missed writing. Before 2018 NaNoWriMo, I hadn't written anything recreational in months…July, I believe. Writing every evening, pouring the words out of my brain onto paper—made me realize that I loved it a lot. Sure it was stressful, and there were times when it was hard to force the words out, but even then writing was still fun. It was a highlight of my day when I could actually be me, and let my 'real thoughts' out! Besides this, I just found that I was really happy when I was writing.

I would encourage you guys to continue writing as well. You may have gotten a jump on your work in progress, but there's still so much to write! Your thoughts and opinions, and worlds, and characters, and stories are stuck in your head. Your readers can't read what hasn't been written. I implore you to keep writing. Writing more helps you understand more. Making a better story, more thought-out plot development, characters that keep getting better and more personable. The more you write the more areas of your writing get better. Keep writing!!

To all my writers out there, regardless of what their wordcount looked at the end of the month, good job! If no one else has told you it yet, you're amazing. You're a world builder, a dragonslayer, a hero, and a million other cheesy congratulations that come from a place of true sincerity. Honestly, good job. Keep writing, and sharing your stories with the world. I can't wait to hear about them. If you want to share stories with me, shoot me an email at WritingQandA@gmail.com. I'll read as many as I can, and maybe you'll get a shoutout in another article! Go! Write! Conquer!