How NaNoWriMo Saved Christmas

The blogging has taken second seat to NaNoWriMo this past month, but that flurry of fictional formulating is now at and end for me. Today is actually the last day of NaNoWriMo, but I finished my story the day before yesterday, with a total word count of 66,333 (a supremely bizarre number, but I'll take it as a good omen). I've submitted my lengthy file to the NaNo website and am a confirmed winner.

Unsuprisingly, this feels incredibly good. First of all, to have written over 66,000 words in twenty-eight days is a major accomplishment. But for me, that wasn't even the best part. The capper for me was actually finishing a novel. I've started novels before; I've even written many, many words and many, many pages of novels before. Three novels, to be exact. But until this very month, I have never before in my life brought a novel-sized story to a full and satisfying ending.

And it all happened rather magically, I must say…

On Saturday morning, I did my usual ceremonial dropping-off-of-the-pills to my mom, which I do every second day, and then decided to take a walk over to the shopping center. I was going to pick up the next month's supply of pills anyway, which was at the "other" mall across the street (which is really now an annex of the first mall, but let's not get overly complicated here), so I decided to make a circuit of it. I was also seriously thinking about having a Cinnabon and a coffee. Not a healthy choice, mind you, but I make it an occasional treat, and somehow justify it in my own mind.

Your mileage may vary.

At any rate, I left my mom's house and walked down the sidewalk towards the next cul-de-sac, at whose end are stairs that descend to the shopping center parking lot, eager for my tasty temptation. For some reason, I stopped abruptly and decided to turn left off the sidewalk and take the asphalt path that goes behind the houses on that section of the street. Not a big deal, really. Two routes, same length, same destination. I chose the one that took me away from the street.

As I walked along the asphalt path, which runs along the soccer field of a local school, I noticed how interesting the weather was. It was drizzling on me a bit, enough that I had my hood up, but I could also see sunshine not so far away. The clouds were dark and interesting, and the patches of sunlight shining through them contrasted starkly. It was oddly beautiful.

At that moment, I began to think about something someone had said to me a couple of days earlier, something about slowing down and actually experiencing things. It made me think of Eckhart Tolle and The Power of Now (about which I blogged early on in the life of this site) and just being in the present moment. So I decided to slow down my pace and actually look around at the interesting lighting effects nature was providing for my enjoyment.

If I hadn't done so at just that moment, I would have missed the rainbow.

Yup. There it was. Big as life. Bigger, actually. It didn't stand out dramatically against the sky and buildings; it was a subtle rainbow. But it was there, and if I'd done my usual style of walking, which basically consists of moving my feet whilst thinking about any number and manner of things, I would not have seen it at all.

So, I decided to step off the path and walk through the soccer field, which allowed me to keep the rainbow in view for a few minutes longer. By the time I reached the path leading to the shopping center, I could no longer see the rainbow. But it was a stunning sight while it lasted.

I went into the mall, still thinking about the rainbow and how I'd never have seen it if I hadn't been craving an unhealthy snack, and took the escalator to the upper level to procure said unhealthy snack. It was delicious, gooey, sweet, and decadent, as it always is, and the coffee was warm and comforting. I sat there for a while, sipping, chomping, and watching people go by.

And in the process of not thinking much about it, I figured out how my thirty-day novel was going to end.

I'd been thinking about it off and on since I got up that morning, but things didn't coalesce until I was sitting there enjoying my decadent cinnamon bun. (For the record, "cinnamon" is a damnably difficult word to type.) I began to feel elated, and I knew, based on the point I'd reached in the novel already, that I'd be able to end the story before November 30th.

And then Santa Claus walked by.

No, seriously. I'm not kidding. Just before I finished my coffee, the mall Santa Claus came in from outside and walked right by my table. He was actually a pretty decent-looking Santa too, for that matter. He wasn't nearly fat enough, but that doesn't surprise me. After all the, the traditional Santa girth really doesn't send a healthy message to kids, now, does it? It's rather like the Cookie Monster, who now tells us that cookies are a "sometimes snack." Another piece of my childhood trodden upon by the bootheels of political correctness.

Et tu, Santa?

But regardless, my Christmas Cheer, my creativity, my morale, and my blood sugar all rose to nearly unimaginable heights in a very short span of time. I was pumped; I was ready; I was raring to go.

And so, in three writing sessions at three points later in the day, I wrote over six-thousand words and brought my now-twenty-eight-day novel to a satisfying, if somewhat sad, conclusion. It was a bit of a marathon, but it was also a tremendous accomplishment. And it was fueled by magic.

If you don't believe in magic, take a look at the little things around you. Think about some coincidences that have happened in your life. Or take on a challenging task, perhaps something you've never done before, or something you think you might not be able to do.

You might be surprised.

Mind the gap. And congratulations to all the other NaNoWriMo winners out there. It feels good, don't it?

(And just to keep the magic going, I found this video, which incorporates both the Cookie Monster and Santa Claus, after I'd finished writing this post. This is classic Cookie Monster, before all the "sometimes snack" nonsense. Somebody give this monster a Cinnabon!)