Monday, December 2, 2013

What Are You Thankful For?

Late in November, we celebrate Thanksgiving. This holiday reminds us of the difficult times the pilgrims went through the first few years after they came to America. As the pilgrims went through hard times, each of us faces our own hard times at one point in life or another. This season especially, I think of the people and things in my life I have to be thankful for.

This year, I’m thankful for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), among other things. This is the first year I’ve participated in NaNo, and frankly, I wasn’t expecting much. I didn’t know what to expect, really. All I knew was the goal was to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. So, each day I wrote, typing words into my computer. Sometimes they didn’t seem to flow very well. Other times they gushed out like a raging waterfall.

My word counts added up quicker than I thought they would. Every day of the first week, I beat the previous day’s word count. On the first Saturday, NaNo’s writing marathon, I managed to eke out just over 8,000 words. Imagine my surprise when I tallied that one up! The next week didn’t progress quite that well, but I did still manage to log pretty good word counts, compared to my normal ones.

The third week was slow for me, due to circumstances outside my control. But I still found some time to write each day. By forcing myself to sit in front of my computer every day in November, I reached the goal of 50,000 words by November 25th.

Yes, I’m a NaNoWriMo winner.

I’m grateful for the experience, for it showed me just how much I can accomplish when I get my schedule figured out. When I sit with only my computer as entertainment, and with the Lord as my Guide, the words are sure to pile up and create the bones of a story I can work with.

Thank you to my family who supported my attempt at the National Novel Writing Month. They allowed me the undisturbed time I needed to write. Each day they were eager to hear the word count I’d reached. Their encouragement meant the world to me and helped me reach the count on the difficult days that seemed to drag on and on and on. Without their support, I wouldn’t have reached my goal and felt this awesome sense of accomplishment.


How has your family and/or friends supported your dreams? What people and/or things do you have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season?

2 comments:

Kara said...

Big time congrats on winning NaNo, Andrea, and reaching your goal!!! That's soooo wonderful :) Bless God for your supportive family, that makes the experience even richer! I'm extremely grateful for the love and encouragement poured out by God daily, for my blogging friends who have prayed for me, and my family who continues to brag about "the writer" in our midst :) Again congrats, Andrea, this is just the beginning! Hugs and blessings to you!

Andrea Cox said...

Thanks so much, Kara! I love that your family already brags about you like you'd made the New York best seller list 50 times or something. That's so awesome and way better than making that list in the first place. :) Family support is vital to us writers, especially as it seems lonely at times when all you see is a computer screen before you. I'm so glad you've got that support backing you up. Have a fabulous week and happy writing!