It is Finished.
Yep. Done. Finito. El Fin. Completed.

Finished.

I have just validated my official word count for Lizzy Hated Pantyhose written for Nanowrimo 2003.

The final word tally is: 51,571 words!

You can see my name on the winner's list by clicking here, and scrolling down the page a bit. See that purple bar that says 'winner' on it? Yep. I'm a winner.

So, to sum up, I started writing this novel on November 4, and completed it November 25. That's 22 days. Over 51,000 words. My t-shirt arrived yesterday. I can now wear it with pride.

I also get a certificate, which seemed to crash my printer, so I'll try again later. And my name is on that website list.

Yep. It's all worthwhile.

Seriously, I loved this project. When I first started, I didn't think I'd finish. I struggled with the idea for the story. I didn't think I had the discipline to keep at it. But, I made the story last for 51,000 words, and I didn't even have to add any superfluous sentences of nonsense to make it stretch.

I've been really excited about this, even though it was a spur of the moment thing. I love the story, even though it likely won't appeal to many. But I had fun. And I definitely want to write more novels.

It's just really cool to say I wrote a novel, even if it never goes any further than this.

As soon as I can, I will try to work out making it available for viewing. It may be awhile, but I can't wait for people to be able to read it. I'm just really excited about it.

Thanks to all of you who encouraged me, helped me with the idea (even if you didn't know it), were patient with my lack of non-Nano blogging, and who had confidence in me that I could somehow spit out 50,000 words and do this thing.

I guess being long-winded, silly, and cynical can actually be used for good, rather than annoyance.

Writing on,
C.T.

PS: Merry Thanksgiving, everyone. I'll be out giving thanks for awhile.