I used to be a really fast writer. Prolific even. Writing more than 1000 words a day was nothing for me. Especially when I used to commute to London on the train, I’d easily clock between 1500 and 2000 words a day. I didn’t really think much of it, to be honest. It was just the way I wrote.

And then came the pandemic and I really struggled writing. I participated in – and finished – NaNoWriMo last November, but it was a really struggle to sit down and write the words every day.

I won NaNoWriMo!

Despite my personal challenges this year, I decided to join NaNoWriMo again this year. I’ve done it for nine years in a row and really didn’t want to miss this year. I figured, even if I didn’t win, I would have written a good chunk of my new novel.

Thanks to the unwavering support of my wonderful Nano buddies on Twitter, and the novel writing support group of the ACFW, I was able to win NaNoWriMo again this year! I built up a bit of a buffer in the beginning, as I had surgery in the third week, which really helped. After my surgery, I had more non-writing days than I had hoped, but I still managed to finish a day early.