I won NaNo this afternoon! It feels so good to have that 50k under my belt. I'm hoping that maybe I can get to 55k by the end of the month, but we'll see.

To all those who are still writing, consider this an official pep talk: GO, GO, GO! You can do it! Last year I ended up writing the last 25k of my novel in the last week or so, so just take it from me... it is not impossible. So stop reading this, and just write! (Believe me, it'll work. )

I know it's possible. The one and only time I won, I wrote 10k on the last day in a 5 hour sprint....However I do not wish to repeat that experience.

~Anna

I just won! I'm super happy! I still want to beat last year's word count though so I'm hoping to write another 4k or so.

*just made 25K* Considering that this is my first year and that homework took up nearly all of my writing time and the fact that I was sick for almost a week I think that's quite an accomplishment. I didn't finish the novel, or make 50K, but hey, it's something. And no, I am not going to attempt to write the remaining 25K in three days. I may be crazy, but I am not that crazy.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Congrats narnian_at_heart!

And daughter of the king, don't worry about it. Making it to 25k is an accomplishment! You did better than I did my first year. I only made it to 17.5k, lol You might not be able to make it the rest of the way in 3 days, but just keep writing. Don't stop now and don't stop at the end of the month. Use NaNo as method for teaching you to write every day. That's what I try to see it as.

~Anna

I validated my novel today 54,004 words, I didn't finish my novel but I got nice and stuck with the end and I think I need to cool off a little and think a bit before I try to resolve everything, besides I want these last three days to work on my second novel, I already have something like 500 words down and I want to get to get to 20k

congrats to all the winners

Am I the only one who's influenced by what I've been reading, watching, etc

I'm definitely influenced by what music I'm listening to, that's for sure. There are several times where my Sci-Fi novel branches into horror, and I'll be listening to some scary movie soundtrack. There was a moment this morning where my main character had to do something spectacularly dangerous and I had the Alien soundtrack in and my heart was pounding like a jackhammer. I didn't want to write. I wanted to flee! It was fun

I started Sunday afternoon with 39k done and due to my hectic work schedule I knew that yesterday would be the only day I had to finish it. So I sped through the remaining 11k and even tagged on an extra thousand words and won NaNo with 51k! I'm still writing and attaching stuff to it but now I'm doing so at a much more leisurely pace.

Congrats rose and shadow! Shadow, that was quite the sprint. O_O I'm struggling just to write more than 3k a day...

Less than 9k left.......

And yes, you're not alone Elanor. I'm not as easily influenced by music, but I'm finding this year that audiobooks can get me in the right mood. And that's also the reason I cut off all reading and watching during NaNo. Otherwise I'm too influenced and can't write. My resolve's cracking though as my putting 8 books on hold in the library illustrates. *needs to hurry up and finish*

~Anna

Congratulations to all the winners, and to those close, and still writing, you can do it. I finished my novel to-day, at 65,885 words. At least my plot outline wasn't too short!

YAY WINNERS!!!!

I have about 2.2k left to write before I join your ranks... If I can snag the laptop, I'll be able to win tonight.

For those who feel behind in your WCs: YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!

Still working away, even though I passed 50k yesterday.

Congratulations on maintaining your sanity, daughter of the king. I got sick this month, too, and didn't want to write a word the whole time.

It looks like most of you guys seem to be doing pretty well. We're a pretty motivated group here! Anyone having trouble catching up? We can make it. We always do. Every year there's someone behind, and every year they pull of these jaw-dropping wordsprints that make me blush with shame, and walk away with the full swagger of a winner. I love seeing that every year.

Still writing on...

Just passed 42k... this part is surprisingly hard to write. I guess that is because I am finally hitting the romance part of my story, and I have never written a romance before...

I will win! There is no other option after getting this close.

EDIT: anyone have any ideas for a Christmas gift a guy would get a girl he liked...when she doesn't know he likes her...and he wants to subtly let her know? And this is in the early 1900s.

Flowers are always classic, winterlife. I'd recommend looking to see what fads were popular with girls at that time and picking one that seems suitable.

~Anna

I'm at 66.8k right now - scurrying to finish my novel in two days. AGH. I wrote my record yesterday, 4.6k. And I'm hoping I can do it, because that's what winning NaNo really is. We'll see.

EDIT: anyone have any ideas for a Christmas gift a guy would get a girl he liked...when she doesn't know he likes her...and he wants to subtly let her know? And this is in the early 1900s.

Something that he knows she needs/will like/will use. That shows that he pays attention and knows what she wants or needs.

For example, my boyfriend gave me a chalk bag for my birthday. I had never said I wanted one but I didn't have one and had used his a time or two while climbing and he guessed it would be something I would appreciate and use a lot and like to have (he guessed correctly.) He also got it in a pretty blue and green pattern to match my climbing shoes which are green.

Just something like that (he knows she wants or needs) that's also in a favorite color. That shows he's paying attention and knows what she likes. Or if he got her a scarf or something have him say something like "I got that color to match your eyes" or "I got that item/color because I though it would look nice with xxx item of clothing" because then she'll know he's paying attention to what she wears and/or looks like.

Anything that shows he pays attention and notices the small things is a good option.

In my opinion, flowers are too romantic if he's trying to be subtle.