Phew!

So today marks the end of my #NaNoWriMo campaign and I'm delighted to say that I won! I successfully wrote a whole novel (50,000 words) in 21 days. And I am beat!

As I shove my mouth full of my jelly baby reward and await the inevitable sugar crash I'm able to momentarily bask in completing my next novel. Normally it takes me 3 months to write a book so it's good to know that if I push myself that extra bit I can trim that time down to three weeks. But it is tough. I've been writing consecutively every day breaking targets of 4 and 5K. It has been extremely draining at times but I had my goal in mind, I knew where my story needed to go I just had to get it there.

I am now looking forward to a blissful weekend of doing not very much. Whilst #NaNovWriMo was fun I think  in future I'll stick to my 3 month turnaround times as there is far less pressure that way.

When people learn I'm a writer they often say how much they'd like to write a book of their own. My advice to those people is take advantage of #NaNovWriMo. Everyone involved in #NaNovWriMo is crazy supportive and it's that kind of encouragement which will really help you out on the days when you are struggling to write. And I can certify that it is more than humanly possible to write 50K in one month. I completed my own story whilst working full time as a freelance writer. Balance is important, so is planning. I personally find planning to be absolutely essential!

Good luck to everyone hitting the home straight with their own WIPs! I hope you all manage to cross through that finish line! I'm off to send my newly completed novel to my agent, fingers crossed she likes it!

I'm so relieved to just be finished that I'm even considering sharing my big box of jelly babies! Any takers?

xoxo