Congratulations on making it through the Challenge! Whether you wrote your goal number of words or not the important thing is that you wrote. Getting started and finding your writing rhythm is half the battle. Now you need to keep it up. There will always be reasons not to write. Ignore them and, instead, remember everything that’s great about writing. Write every day and don’t give up.

HelenKay

So we’ve got another round behind us. Whether you met your goal or not, if you’ve been writing, then you did well. All sorts of people say they want to be a writer, but so many of them never put pen to paper…or fingers to keyboard. So if you’ve done some writing this round, you succeeded. Now keep it up.

Shiloh Walker
http://shilohwalker.com

Hope everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable and productive challenge. It doesn’t matter whether you surpassed your goals or your output was more modest, you still took part. Good luck in the weeks ahead and happy writing!

Portia

Another challenge put to bed! Congratulations to each and every one of you who did not quit! In the end, it’s about persevering. Getting up a little early, going to bed a little late, dashing off a scene on your lunch hour. Just. Doing. It. That’s what it’s all about. Hope to see you all next challenge!

Lauren

Whew! It’s over. How did you do? Whether you wrote a paragraph or an entire book, you did something. It’s time to evaluate, figure out what you did right and what you can improve on the next time. And don’t stop just because the challenge is over. Keep going. Keep writing. And congratulations, because any progress at all is progress toward your end goal.

Jaci

Don’t stop now. How does that word count look?

There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.

Do you get that same rush I get when I’m wrapping a book up? I can usually tell when I’m going to finish a story just because of that rush. It doesn’t matter if I’ve only got 2k to go, or 10k still to pound out. The word count isn’t really on my mind, it’s the fact that all those little loose threads aren’t loose anymore and I can actually see the whole picture.

There have been books when I had just a little bit left to go, a few pages, maybe a chapter, but I keep plodding along, plodding along and then BAM! It’s like the smoke clears and I can see where I need to be and the book is done almost like that, the ending practically wrote itself.

Then there are books where I can feel that rush coming on even from 2/3 way through and it’s smooth sailing from there on out.

I had a little bit of both with the books I did this challenge. One was like pulling teeth. One was the opposite. But both got finished. Now I’m wrestling with another one. This one is going to be one of the ones where I muddle along almost every step of the way, I can already tell. But the trick is to just keep plodding along. Even when the challenge is done, there are plenty of stories still to tell.

Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Some of you are no doubt nearing (or have already reached) the end of your projects. How did it go? I find that I’m a writer who loves writing endings. If I’ve gotten everything in place, ends barrel at me, unstoppable, inevitable. I liken it to setting up a field of dominoes, then watching them fall.

Beginnings, on the other hand, are trials. I suffer mightily over the best way to start a story. I suppose this is because I’m designing my domino field. Other writers I know love beginnings but hate endings. Or love beginnings and endings, but hate the middle.

What’s your favorite part? Have you reached it?

Don’t stop now. Just a few days left.

Where do you stand?

What motivates you to write? I mean, of course if you’re a published author, you’re contractually bound to deliver a book at deadline, and if you’re not yet published there’s the drive to be published someday.

But there has to be something beyond those things. Is it to leave a legacy, to have something in print that will remain (hopefully) after you’re gone? Is it just to see your book on the bookshelf? Is it to know that you saw something through from start to finish? Is it to be able to say “I did it” ? Or is it purely the love for the written word, the driving need to put the story on the page?

Whatever the motivation, don’t lose sight of it in the mundane, day to day meeting of word count. Because often I think writers do lose sight of the pure beauty of writing.

Not everyone can do this. Though many people say ‘anyone can be a writer’, those who’ve struggled to create a book know that’s very far from the truth. Not everyone can be a writer. But we can. Celebrate it and revel in the joy of it. And never forget why you do it.

Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.
Rudyard Kipling

Do you remember the first book you read, the one that touched you so deeply, disturbed or excited you to the point where you found yourself unable to put it down? You picked it up again in every spare moment, you thought about it when you weren’t reading it. You fought against rushing to finish, devouring every phrase, every detail.

My son is reading a series of books about warrior cats. He’s a book lover like his parents. His love affair started when, at four, he and I read Junie B Jones together and now at 11, he’s already gone through the Harry Potter books, the Lemony Snicket series, the Titans and the cat warriors. He realizes the power of the written word. He understands how picking up a book can be transformative but also appreciates a good old fashioned bit of entertainment too.

He and I were talking about how some books are just better than others and about how that can be different depending on who you are. He asked me about those books that captured my imagination. I told him about the first time I read William Gibson’s Neuromancer. A slim book. Gibson is the kind of author who uses one word when another author would use twelve. I love that bare bones style and I think it’s why I’ll pick up Gibson instead of Stephenson every time (although I understand the appeal of Stephenson, I prefer Gibson’s style). I remember picking up Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon and reading it, stumbling upon a passage I had to re-read four times because it was so vivid.

Words are my drug, my lure. I love them. I love to read them and I love to write them. As we near the end of this challenge, I realize how distracted I’ve felt during these last 70+ days. But when I went through to get a wordcount early last week I realized I made my goal count as well as finishing multiple proposals, I completed several rounds of copy edits, final pass pages, AAs, edits, and I wrote and finished some novellas and a novel. It has been a particularly frenetic period for me complete with a few moments of authorial panic about numerous things.

But in the end, the words lured me back home. I trusted them to get me through and they continue to do so. Thank goodness.

How’s everyone doing? We’re in the final stretch!

Sometimes we forget the simple things. We get caught up in plot complexity or getting a manuscript sold or finishing a book on deadline. Seems to me this quote captures the simplicity and beauty of what we do as writers:

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. - Rudyard Kipling