Why It’s OK To Fail at NaNo

worlds_most_epic_failure_ever_by_xxspiritwolf2000xx-d65qwx7 — This is not how Cat saw this month going

Quantity not Quality is their Goal: Maybe it’s not your goal. Maybe you couldn’t handle not editing. Maybe you couldn’t handle not doing the research to make sure everything was on point. Maybe you just couldn’t put TBD in the middle of an important sentence and keep going.
Not all Books are 50000 Words: Maybe yours is more of a short story. Maybe it’s going to be a longer one, once your research is done.
Amen, sister.
It’s a Crazy Pace for Anyone: Seriously. Perhaps Stephen King, when seized by a great idea, could write at that pace. But I know full time authors who write well for a living who “failed” at NaNo word counts. Did you write everyday? Most days? Make progress toward a book you’d like to finish? Then failure is not really the right word for the relationship you and NaNo had.
Idea Block is a Real Thing: It’s entirely possible that your NaNo story didn’t finish because that idea stalled out. If you’re anything like me (you poor thing) you actually started blocking out two new outlines in the middle of your NaNo writing time. That idea may have gone a little stale right now, but something else came to life. That’s okay, I think.
NaNo Isn’t Everything: Yup, you heard me. It is possible to write for yourself every single day even without it being November. Welcome to December 1. I hereby give you permission to continue writing that wonderful novel (or any novel). Feel free to send me updates on word count, process, or quality anytime. There is no magic date when your book needs to be finished-just finish it.
You’re in Good Company: I may have finished writing four full length books in the year since I decided to dedicate precious time every single day to writing, but I did NOT finish my NaNoWriMo work for this year. That’s right…I’m a failure too (damn that sentence was hard to type).