The highlight of Nanowrimo

So now that Nanowrimo is over, I thought I would share my favorite/funniest and least favorite moments. Of course I enjoyed all of nano, but these are the two moments that I will remember. I'll start by revealing my shame, and hopefully you won't judge me to harshly.

So the most difficult part of nano is dedication to the cause. Writing 50,000 words in a month is no small task, and it requires you to be very dedicated and to write every day. That means no skipping days. So what did I do not once, but twice? I skipped days and I didn't meet my goal. Alone, this isn't really that bad. But I am. "Why?" you ask, well because I failed to meet my word count on the very first day of Nano. Off to a bad start, I eventually caught up. Only to immediately take not one, but two days off. I would argue that I wrote a couple hundred words one of those days, but it didn't make a difference. I was dedicated to the cause though, and caught up again, only to realize that Thanksgiving is a terrible time to write. I spent a full day driving and once again, I was behind. This continued until the very last day of nano, at which point I was able to buckle down and finish. But still, I kinda cut it pretty close. And my wife Carissa made me feel all of the shame (literally ALL of the shame) for every day that I did not meet my word count.

My shame, however, was not indicative of my worth though. My very favorite nano moment, which I will forever treasure, was when Carissa asked me a question: why did my profile have a halo?

To clarify, the Nanowrimo website gives a halo to your profile if you donate money. It marks you as special and superior to others. I now had one and Carissa, of course, did not. Now, had I actually made a donation and earned my halo this would be expected and she wouldn't really care. I would have paid for (and earned) my halo. But I didn't donate. Someone else made a donation in my name, so I got gifted a halo. And let me tell you, Carissa was not pleased with that. She is a very good person and fully supports nano—and perhaps it had something to do with me lording over her about how superior I was—but she called me a liar and a cheat, undeserving of my halo. It really didn't help that this was shortly after one of my "rest days."

Long story short, I now have a halo and Carissa doesn't.