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“Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Don’t sell out.” — Christopher Reeves

We’re going to be done in 48 hours. Come Thursday morning, you’ll wake up and the ticking clock will no longer be hanging over your head. You’ll have no word count to enter on the NaNoWriMo site, and Twitter will be awash with folks breathing a sigh of relief that it’s over and they can relax.

Some of us are, unfortunately, going to wake up that morning with less than 50,000 words. I may be one of them. I’m catching up, but all I need is one bad turn, one thing to keep me from the keyboard (and there’s been plenty of those this month), and I’ll be clocking in just shy of 50,000.

To you who are looking at that very real possibility, I have to say, “Don’t give up.”

You’ve written something this month. It’s more than you had written the morning of November 1. 50,000 words is an arbitrary number, not necessarily the length of a first draft. If you’ve managed to sketch out the major bones of your story, that is absolutely a victory, no matter how many words you’re at. Don’t give up; the bones still need to be fleshed out.

I’ve seen someone on Facebook who had a baby and managed 10,000 words. That’s no small feat, and while she’s not making the word count goal. I’d be loathe to say that she failed under the circumstance. Life is hope, and a new life is a reminder that there are always new dreams to dream.

Some people have spent the month trying to write in trying circumstances, with family who are less than supportive, wondering why attention is taken away from their wants or how they think the world should be run. If you are one of those, don’t give up your dreams. Hold them close, pursue them as hard as you can and build a better world for yourself.

To all of you who have been here to read these words, thank you for coming along on this journey with me. Tomorrow is not the end, but the beginning of the next phase, and no matter where we are with our stories, there is always a new dawn waiting for us if we have faith in ourselves.

Word Count Goal: 48,343

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