Triumph is mine!

That is correct, my friends: I am a winner of NaNoWriMo for 2008! I successfully completed my goal of 50,000 words for the month of November, and I have a shiny web badge there on the right to show for it! (I actually think it would look better over on the left, where there's nothing right now, but I couldn't find a way to put anything over there. Oh well.)

This has been an incredibly frustrating and rewarding experience, and it has helped immensely in figuring out how certain events in my story are actually going to work out on paper rather than just in my head. There are definitely still some plot holes, but now I feel like I'm in a position to be able to tackle those head-on and fix them so I can finally have a full and complete outline. Joy!

It may amuse some of you to hear that I accidentally ended up at the Saturday Market this past weekend. Yes, it really was an accident. I had two errands to run downtown, and decided that instead of trying to find a parking spot I would have to pay for, I would just park for free at Lloyd Center and take the MAX over to Pioneer Courthouse Square, also for free (Fareless Square is a wonderful thing). Well, as I was on the MAX I heard the Skidmore Fountain stop announced, and it occurred to me that said stop was actually a lot closer to my first errand, so I went ahead and got off. I immediately found myself surrounded by crowds and music, and then the MAX pulled away to reveal, on the other side of the tracks... the Saturday Market. "Oh, right," I said to myself at this point. "It's Saturday." At this point, you see, I was thinking in terms of days left in November rather than days of the week. And so it was that I accidentally visited the Saturday Market. I went ahead and walked around, although I had to keep a quiet litany running in my head: "I can't spend money. I can't spend money. I can't spend money." It worked - sort of. I made one purchase, but it wasn't for me, so it doesn't count. Hey, it's the holiday season!

Congratulations to Amanda, the winner (and only player) of last post's game! That's my favorite line too, Amanda. :) Thanks for playing!

Addendum to post: I just had to make this quick little edit to share with all of you the sign hanging on the wall directly across from me in this coffeeshop: "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."