Congratulations to the victors of JuNoWriMo! You have all won a significant victory, no matter what your final word count totaled. Why? You stepped out of your comfort zone. We recognize all kinds of creative growth at JuNoWriMo. This is true of both the traditional goal and Rebel goals. Whatever you’ve spent the month working on is important to you or you wouldn’t have prioritized the time to spend on it. Since the purpose of JuNoWriMo is to help writers, all kinds of accomplishments make up your victory!
If you wrote one more paragraph than you have done before, that’s a victory. If you created an outline or a character profile for the first time, that’s a victory. If you looked at your project with new eyes in any way this month, that’s a victory. Signing up for JuNoWriMo and committing to challenging yourself in whatever form that looks like to you… that’s a victory in any case.
I want to share a little personal advice from my own trial-and-error process of creative writing. Do not let this month’s growth stagnate. I absolutely love writing in JuNoWriMo with all of you. Somewhere in the midst of the creative high of June, I always promise myself to continue my daily writing habit even when the month is over! I’ll be totally honest… Most of the time, I don’t do that at all.
When the Facebook group posts are over and there are no more Sprints or overall group excitement, I tend to fall back into my occasional writing slump. My biggest piece of advice and challenge to all of us is to not allow this to happen. JuNoWriMo is a beautiful celebration of what it means to create… the best way to honor its lessons is to keep it up! Even if you’re not trying to write 1700 words a day, even if you don’t write every day… don’t let the inspiration become lost. It’s invaluable! That might be the biggest victory of them all.
Congratulations, writers!
Elizabeth Conrad writes short stories and novel-length works in mainstream, fantasy and science fiction genres. She also enjoys singing and design. Her favorite animals are cats and rabbits. She firmly believes that there can never be enough coffee in the world.