So, yeah, in case you haven't heard, I won NaNoWriMo this year with a total of 50,299 words. This number will probably fluctuate as I commence editing/revising this December. There are parts I need to add and parts I want to take out, but in the end I'll cash in my code from CreateSpace and get a copy of my manuscript in paperback form.

Winning meant a lot more to me and my mom than the certificate and the possibility of me becoming a novelist in the future, though. My great-grandmother, who just recently turned 90, is completely illiterate. She was born in Alabama in 1919 - a place and time in which a woman getting educated was less important than the amount of cotton she could pick. Just three generations later, at age fifteen, I've written a novel. It's a profound and meaningful moment for my family.

Sappiness aside, I've found that completing my novel and moving my creative energies away from writing for a few days has cured my artist's block. I've uploaded a few new pictures, and I had a great time both drawing them and reveling in the feeling of actually being able to just sit down and DRAW when I felt like it. I feel very free at the moment.

I count on this feeling fading the moment I have to actual sit down and edit the beast of a novel lurking on my hard drive. I also have drabbles and new character profiles to work on. Wish me luck!