May it be with you

This is what nice Chris Baty said:

So it’s official.

Our word-counting robots have analyzed your November novel, and they’ve delivered their final, binding assessment: Winner.

You did it! You did it! You did it!

This was, without a doubt, one of the hardest years on record for NaNoWriMo participants. At some point in the literary marathon, most of your fellow writers fell by the wayside. They lost their books to work, to family, to school, and to the hundreds of other distractions and interruptions that tend to shutter creative undertakings like NaNoWriMo.

But not you. Not this year.

This November, you set out with the ridiculously ambitious goal of bringing an entire world into existence in just 30 days. When the going got tough, you got writing. Now you’re one of the few souls who can look back on 2007 as the year you were brave enough to enter the world’s largest writing contest, and disciplined enough to emerge a winner.

We salute your imagination and perseverance. The question we ask you now is this: If you were able to write a not-horrible novel in 30 days, what else can you do? The book you wrote this month is just the beginning.

From here on out, the sky’s the limit.

We wish you well on your many upcoming adventures, and hope to see you for Script Frenzy in April, and again for NaNoWriMo next November.

Before you go, though, we have some NaNoWriMo Winner gifts for you.

The first are a couple of winner’s icons, meant to be posted on a website or blog.

<a href=’http://www.nanowrimo.org/’>
<img src=’<filename>’ width=100 height=100 border=0 alt=’Official NaNoWriMo 2007 Winner’>
</a>

Since your achievement should be proclaimed far beyond the internet realm, we’ve also created a special Winners Certificate for you to print out and hang anywhere novelist groupies tend to gather. After downloading from our site and printing it out, you’ll just need to grab your favorite calligraphy pen or re-run it through your printer to customize it with your name and the title of your new novel.

You can return to this page at any time from now until September 2008, by signing in to the site and clicking the My NaNoWriMo link in the main navigation of the site. Look for the “You Won!” link on the left.

If you haven’t made a donation to NaNoWriMo already, please visit our Donation Station and add your name to the list of wonderful folks who believe in NaNoWriMo and our Young Writers Program enough to support us. Even $10 does a world of good!

On behalf of everyone here at NaNoWriMo headquarters, I offer you my congratulations.

Warm regards,

Chris Baty
Program Director, NaNoWriMo

So donate to NaNoWriMo, people, and be happy for me! 50044 words and counting!

Welcome back. My name is officially Lily Isabelle Moen now. It’s a penname, of course, because I don’t usually go around changing my name that quickly. I am a writer of fictions. Currently occupying my time is a hereby unnamed novel that I call “untitled.” How original is that? I think I deserve an award, or something.

Other than that, nothing is new in Lilyland (and yet another great name from Lily!). What about you , fellow passengers on the journey to the completed work?

the good

the bland

the bad

the dead poet’s society

the clique novels

the pens

or the money waste

why words?

i love them

they kill me

sweetly breathing my demise

stop me before the pain

the joy

the love

spins me away

and i will hate you

Lady Margaret lives in a world

Foreign to many

Feared by the masses

She is a modern Ophelia

Without a lover

But for a sturdy stripy binder

With polka-dots inside

Only the binder loves her back

And the paper does not

It is the cruel heart

That manages the rest

And shuns the pen

Today

~Lady Margaret

Soon my friend, soon

I whisper softly to you

You shall be mine

Swaddled in pink

Or orange

Tucked cozy in a new home

Of cardboard walls

As I tenderly create you

With my smooth pens

I shall watch you grow

You shall be my little girl

Have patience with me, precious

I still love you

Wait and soon

Lily can have a place

For her baby

You

The Stone

Is gone

Who knows

What has happened to it

It has vanished

Leaving only the lightest sprinkle

Of gravel

To sting my feet

If I tread to boldly

I must tiptoe

Carefully

For however many miles

Until the debris is

Cleared

If you were walking along
And happened upon a stone
Would you let it perturb you?
Could it get in your way?
Would you be bothered by it?
Would you walk around
The large obstruction?
Or sit there
Would you pout
Would you cry
Would you stare
With a sigh
I am at that impasse
A point that’s hard to cross
Yet I don’t cross it
I let a stone
A simple stone
Get in my way
I must fight back
I will find a way.

This is a hope for you

As I have been so blessed

That you may be blessed also

And it is no contest

I pray

That yours may be the big whales

Not the small fries

Write in haste

Friends

And go forth

Merrily

Wrapped

In the finest luxuries that

Imagination can

Supply

In your mind

May you be granted the

Wisedom

To do

As you please

And may the drought

Never come to your

Sea

Whirling

Twirling

This French word

Surrounds me

It can be translated

To the writing process

Of thinking

Or to mean fog

But perhaps

The fog is clearing

I hope so

For the tide is high again

I can fish

The bounty is plentiful

I no longer worry

About the pages staying empty

Cheerful today?

Perhaps

Or maybe

The muses

Have brought

The Blessing of the Pen

Upon me

 May it be with you too

~La Fille d’Ecriture

Where have they gone

What has transpired

Who am I to ask

If they will ever return

I can only hope

 That soon the flood will come back

The tide high

Perfect for fishing

The words that I search

May this be the roughest part of the journey

I pray

And may this fate never befall you

May the Blessing of the Pen be upon you

~La Fille d’Ecriture