Didn't finish Nano? Neither did I.

So, it's the end of nanowrimo and you didn't meet your word count goal. Good news, you're not alone! Know what else? You're still a winner!

That's right, a winner! How?

Let me rewind to the beginning of November. Like so many others, I felt the buzz of nano. I signed up, got prepped and ready for day 1. It was all great. The words were flowing and I was meeting my daily word count, plus more. Then came the dreaded missed writing day. But it was okay, it was only one day and I could catch up. No worries, right? Wrong. There came another missed day, and another, and... well, you get the picture. Before I knew it I was six days behind and the pep of nano no longer excited me. I had lost my nano spirit.

As is accustomed to today's society, I posted about my horrible nano days on my social platforms. My post circulated and it took the reminder of friends and complete strangers for me to see the bigger picture. And I'm here to tell you the same thing. 

You're further today than you were yesterday. 

Sure, I wasn't staying on schedule and my chances of getting a winner certificate was slim and none, but I was still winning on my own terms. My current work in progress was further than it was at the beginning of November. That's a win!

So, if you participated in Nano but didn't finish with 50,000 words, it's okay. It doesn't matter if finished with 2,000 or 45,000. The point is that you made it further than you did a month ago. Your writing will come along and if you keep at it, pretending that every month is nanowrimo, then you'll have that novel finished in no time.