With less than 1,500 words left to write to reach the 50,000 word mark, I want to mention my experience with NaNoWriMo writing buddies. As with many things in life, having support and encouragement can make the difference between success and failure in an endeavor. Last year I lurked on some of the NaNoWriMo writing threads. I was reading a thread related to writing buddies. There was one request that caught my eye and I sent that person an email. Much to my surprise we connected. Steve had done nano for several years and he pushed me whenever my word count dropped. If I was struggling, he just seemed to have the right words of encouragement.
The following month I took a trip to the S F Bay Area and managed to meet him for a cup of coffee. It was great to have the personal contact after only interacting online.
This year, he didn't decide to participate until the last moment and I wondered what the month would be like without his support. Fortunately, he did decide to participate. During the first week, we had a friendly competition to see who could write more words each day. Much to my surprise, I was in the lead that week. Then I had a crazy schedule for the weekend and he pulled ahead. I could never catch up with him after that. When my spirit lagged, he once again seemed to have the words I needed to read to keep my momentum going. I achieved my word count goal several days early this year, exceeding my experience from last year where I only reached my word count on November 30th around 11:30p (just in the nick of time.)