Happy December, Writer!

Whether you wrote 1 word or 100,000 last month, you're officially a writer. Take a moment to celebrate that. The bravest step is always the first one, and there's nothing more daunting to a writer than that blank page.

Slowly, the pages fill with words. Those words create your unique story: yes, yours! No one else will be able to weave sentences the way you do. I think that's pretty cool of you.

I think this year, I really learned what writing with reckless abandon means. There's a joy in writing, in creating something just for you. I don't know about you, but I know some of the things I wrote were an absolute mess. Probably, no one but me will ever read this version. It's very much imperfect chaos.

But I did laugh when my characters were particularly clever with their jokes. I smiled when they were able to take a break from all their adventures. I even teared up a couple times from all the troubles my characters faced.

That's all part of the fun that comes with being a writer. You feel so much for your characters and your story that you truly go on an adventure with them.

I can only hope that even though November is over, you'll continue on that writing journey. There are plenty more stories out there, and I hope you're able to discover the ones that really speak to you!

We're so grateful for the chance to write with every single one of you. Thank you for telling your story!

Lots of love,

Josie Gepulle
Programs Associate

(P.S. Please enjoy this hamster I drew just for you!)

Did you know? 

You can keep working on your 2023 NaNoWriMo novel as long as you want! It'll be available on the YWP site for you to write, revise, and download. (Though it's always a good idea to save it in at least one other place!) 

You can also start a new personal challenge from your Dashboard and write any time you want.

In case you missed it...

Check out this year's Pep Talks! — For writing inspiration all year long, check out this year's Pep Talks from Mark Oshiro, Rita Williams-Garcia, Roshani Chokshi, and Maia Kobabe (as well as some truly rad pep talks from YWP participants).

View the 30 Covers 30 Days features on our blog — Professional designers and fellow Wrimos created covers for some of the masterpieces being written last month. Check out the blog for our 30 Covers, 30 Days updates!

Didn't win? That's okay! Celebrate your hard work with our NaNoWriMo Writer certificate and flair.

If you did win, access your Winner certificate and flair on your Winner page. If you can't see the link in your "My Word-Count Challenge" box, just use the arrows to navigate back to the correct challenge.