WE DID IT! Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo, 2020 everyone! (Insert jazz hands and party poppers) I don’t know how you’re feeling, but I am full-on exhausted and elated.

(Full confession: I finished my draft a couple of days ago. I still want to celebrate the end of November.)

Thirty days of writing.

Every day. Without fail. That, my friend, is an accomplishment.

Getting to the end of a challenge like this feels like finishing a marathon. It’s exhausting, and you might be feeling a little bit drained or burned out. I know I am. Writing 50k words in one month is big deal, and finishing it is something worth celebrating!

So pop that champagne, go out to dinner (if you can go out where you are-thanks, covid!), eat a piece of chocolate—do whatever you do to celebrate, because you did it!

But, what if you didn’t write 50k words?

You are not a failure. The purpose of NaNoWriMo is to show up everyday and write. If you did that, and only managed 40k words or 10k words, then good for you! That’s not a small number! That’s 40k words MORE than you had at the beginning of the month, and that is still worth celebrating!

So what now?

For me, my manuscript will go in a “drawer” for at least six weeks, but probably longer. I need some space from it, and I have quite a bit of thinking to do on it. In fact, I don’t think I’ll be ready to pull it out again until February.

I recommend you do the same. Put it away for a good chunk of time and get some distance. Your book will need to be revised/rewritten, and you need some distance to evaluate it clearly. (And maybe just a little space if this past month was a little exhausting for you.)

While you have some space, work on something else. Give yourself a new project. Maybe something shorter: a short story, a picture book, a chapter book, a nonfiction piece. You could start brainstorming about the next book. It doesn’t matter, but you need to keep moving forward to give your mind the break it needs, so that when you go back to revise, you’re ready for it.

Congratulations! NaNo champs! We did it!