The End of an Era (Camp Nanowrimo update)

     Last Saturday night, I completed my 14th NaNoWriMo writing challenge, this time the goal being 75,000 words. I remember last April NaNoWriMo when I decided to do 100,000 words and found it to be the busiest month of my life. Well, this year again, I found it to be the busiest month of my life. Despite the lower word count, I had more on my plate. I was involved in clubs and groups around the university, from the Bishop's University Singers to the Bishop's University Gender Equity Center. On top of that, I had a full 20 credits (as opposed to my 18 last year). Like last year, I was in a relationship, but beyond that, this was my last semester at Bishop's University itself. 


     The consequence of this was that I spent a great deal of time simply saying goodbyes. I adopted a sort of "Yes" man attitude because I recognized that a no now could mean a no forever as I am leaving and I don't know when I might see any of the people here again. This led to a lot of good nights, but as my stats show, I barely got any writing done in the first half of the month. I had to catch up after most people had left town, as my stats show here. 

     Now all of this may suggest why this post is titled "The End of an Era", but there is one final reason behind it. Three years ago, when I completed my CEGEP, I likewise finished the first draft of "The Beginning of the End". At the time I had thought that it would mean the novel would drift out of my mind more like many of the others did. I was wrong, but it really did mark the end of a part of my life, just as the end of April did. 

     While my Camp NaNoWriMo page suggests that I was focusing more on writing "Mangled Reflections" and "Escape from Dreamscape", what ended up happening is that after finishing "Mangled Reflections" in the first or so day, I moved to "The Beginning of the End". Ultimately I continued writing it until the second to last day. I would have gone farther, but I ended up finishing it (kind of like how two years ago I finished its prequel the day before the end of April NaNo). This is the first time I've finished a rewrite of "The Beginning of the End", as I usually change enough to justify going back and rewriting it again. 

     And present in that ending of my main novel is the revelation I think I ultimately needed to have in my time here at Bishop's, the pinnacle of the revelation coming from a mix of Dante's Divine Comedy, church going, and the study of love in one of my classes, as well as the sheer experience of goodness in my time here. It's been quite a journey, and I sense it coming to an end. We will see what awaits me beyond it. 

     Take care, and until next time,

-Zero