The Finish Line, Baby!!

Chill-axing Song of the Day: "The End" by Kings of Leon

So, Quita and I have done the unthinkable. As you may recall, a few weeks ago we announced we were going to participate in NaNoWriMo. You see, we attempted and failed miserably last year. But after some coaxing from our writing sis, Racquel Henry, we decided to take a stab at it again.

And we didn't just stab that sucker--we filleted it!

Okay, that was a rather lame analogy, but not only did we meet the 50,000 requirement LAST Monday, but we also surpassed it! We both finished our first drafts last Wednesday and felt like doing this:

And this weekend, as promised, we will indulging ourselves with this:

Yeah boy!

So, I know that NaNo has been getting some flack by a few people. You know, if you were a real writer, you wouldn't need NaNo to get your butt in the chair and yadda yadda yadda.

Well, I'm sorry, as much as I heart writing, sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes I put everything and everyone first so much that my writing ends up taking backseat. It felt good making writing a priority--no matter how much I wanted to cry and pull out my hair this past month. Plus, after spending the past year writing and revising Wants, I had a great time just writing something for fun. Maybe I'll polish it up and let a few other eyes read it, but just finishing it is also reward enough.

Oh, and did I mention that both Quita and I know that writing everyday isn't necessarily impossible? As much as we whined about it, we always ended up writing more than our daily quotas. This is a habit that I know I can continue EVERY month (though maybe not as strenuously).

So, our lovely followers, how do you celebrate when you finish a first draft? How long do you wait until you start revising it?

Psst--by the way, we FINALLY came up with titles. My Lost Boys meets changelings manuscript is called The Switching Kind, and Quita's coming-of-age genie project is called The Yearning. For now at least. :)