NaNoWriMo

My NaNoWriMo Novel's Cover

Today, I won.  For those of you who aren't familiar with NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month), it's a personal challenge that thousands of people take on all around the world through the month of November. The goal is to write 50,000 words in thirty days. It may not sound like a lot, but it really is a labor of love. It takes time and commitment and an incredible amount of support and understanding from friends. You wind up lost in your plot. You develop a relationship with your characters. Sometimes, your novel feels like the real world, and your life feels like fiction. It's a very intense, emotional experience.

What does any of this have to do with Sponsorship, you may ask? Well, as I was driving home from my last 2012 Write-In this afternoon, I thought about the lessons I've learned over the past twenty-six days, and I realized that these insights are something my girls could benefit from. So I've decided that my December letters to each of them will be about the journey I have undergone, the perseverance it took to accomplish the goal, and how good it felt when that word count ticked above 50,000 this afternoon. I can tell them how my friend Mary coaxed me along and encouraged me, and how we celebrated together when the goal was achieved.

I took screen shots of my statistics page so I can print it and include it to show them how I worked a little bit each day towards achieving my goal. I can send them a copy of the novel's cover, too--I think it will be especially neat for Anna Marie, Joyce and Jie, who each received a pair of the best friend necklaces as part of their Christmas DPs this year.

The Chinese characters mean "friendship", "love" and "eternity"--the two main characters are based on me and my best friend, and their friendship blossoms in language school where they are both studying Chinese. Telling my girls about the plot will then also open the door for me to tell them a bit about my younger days!