The pen is on the paper

I wrote today.
I wrote some 1900 words today. Sure, that's not the 3333 words I was doing every day for half of November (or the 4000 words I did the last few days, or the 10000 words I did in the very first day), but still it's a milestone for me. That's because these 1900 words mark the very first time I worked on a NaNoWriMo piece of mine after the month was done.

In 2008, I didn't make the 50,000 and I didn't finish my book. Nevertheless, after November 2008 I have never touched the text again. It's still not done. It's gathering virtual dust.
By the way, this is the one story I wrote that I don't like. In rewriting, it would need drastic changes. The dialogue has become way too repetitive - basically all that's in the present sucks. In the mean time, the real story - which is what they are talking about in the now, but happened in the past - is decent at best.

In 2009, I fared better. I was ahead a day or so when I fell prey to the Mexican flue. Luckily, I didn't get too ill and I was on my feet after only two days, even though I was still not feeling too great and just so happened to be off for a weekend together with my parents. So basically, I had two days in which I didn't write a single word and then two more days in which I only wrote a couple hundred each. Afterwards I calculated my new daily targets and even finished a few days early. On top of that, just about as I reached the 50,000, my story was all done.
I am quite satisfied about what I have written in 2009, but that of course doesn't mean that there is no need for editing. So, it hasn't been as long as it has been for my 2008 novel, but nevertheless, this complete draft has been gathering virtual dust, even though it just needs the editing.

This year, things went a lot better. As I felt too confident about making the 50,000 words-goal set out by NaNoWriMo, I stepped up the pace and set myself a number of other goals. As I mentioned them earlier, I am not going to repeat them (if you're interested, use the tag feature of this blog to take a look at past NaNoWriMo posts), but it ended in me writing the double the amount of words and still finishing with a day to spare. However, this time my story wasn't done yet. On the contrary, after some 95,000 words, my main character finally told the reader his real name.
However, I just broke that curse that said I cannot work on my novels once November is through. I may not be at the editing phase just yet, but right now I am working on finishing my story. It's only the first 1900 words, but it's a virtual boundary that's been broken.